Mine
by Purpwithapen
Summary: When The Team gets pulled into a deadly game, can they figure it out before they lose one of their own forever?
1. Chapter 1

"We need eyes!" Greg Parker yelled into his headset. He looked anxiously at the small brick building in front of him.

"Almost there!" Sam Braddock answered as he raced to the back of the building, keeping low among the trees. He held his tech bag in his hands as he ran, his legs crouched. There was only a ten foot gap between the trees and the building. He stopped, looked at the boarded windows, and moved forward, crouching low. He covered the ten feet quickly and sat on his butt next to a door, above him a window.

The building is an old utilities building that was abandoned after the power company found a larger building for their growing business. There are a few windows and the ones that exist were boarded shut long ago to keep out squatters. Once it had been abandoned, it was essentially left to the forest to reclaim. The city started growing miles away and it was forgotten.

Team One stood watch over the front door of the building. All of them anxious to get inside.

Sam took out a scope, a small camera mounted at the end of a flexible metal tube and attempted to feed it under the door. "The door's blocked. Finding another way." Sam whispered. His heart pounded and he struggled to get his emotions under control.

"Copy." Greg answered.

Sam turned his head sideways and up to check the window. He moved into a squatting position so he could see better. "Looks like there's a small opening in the bottom of the wood planks and a break in the window in the same corner. Stand by."

At that moment Kevin "Wordy" Wordsmith appeared from the tree line and ran to Sam, keeping low. "Do you think we can get a mic through there too?" Wordy dropped to his butt next to Sam, under the window and close to the other edge of the building.

"Maybe-" Sam was drowned out by shouting from inside, most of it was a female. He looked at Wordy panicked.

"Boss." Team leader Ed Lane projected an enormous amount of agitation, fear and anger with that one word.

"I know Eddie." Greg answered tensely. "Sam!"

Wordy pulled the communicator from his ear and handed it to Sam. Sam pulled tape from his bag and taped the earpiece to the end of the scope. He fed it behind the boards then stretched his head up so he could see the hole in the window.

"I don't CARE what they do!" The brunette screamed in Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlotti's face. "They will never ever keep me from you."

Jules Callaghan gasped as the image of Spike beaten and tied to a chair played on her monitor. She put an hand to her mouth as a small sob escaped.

#####4 days earlier####

"We're going in." Ed said softly into his headset as he motioned to Wordy, Jules, and Spike to advance. Lew had stayed in the truck to watch the live feed and give them information if they needed it. The four moved easily through the offices of the bank towards the lobby. When they reached the code locked door, Ed put up his hand for them to stop. Ed nodded to his left to Wordy who moved forward. Wordy took out the paper the branch manager had given them for the code. She had been at a meeting in the city when the robbery started and had been very willing to help them. Wordy punched in the code and the door clicked. "Line formation." Ed whispered still looking forward. He knew they'd hear him through the headset. Wordy slid in behind Ed followed by Jules then Spike. Ed pushed open the door and they moved forward. Once they were through the door, the teller counter was to their right. The gunman was standing about eight feet in front of them leaning on the table where the deposit and withdrawal slips were kept. Ed motioned to them again and they all took a knee behind a table the bank had set up with pamphlets and a display on their services. The display was curved at the bottom which left a hole for them to monitor the subject. It was a perfect hiding spot.

The subject, a young man of his early 20's with a black skull cap and Zorro mask over his face, was still talking on the phone to Sergeant Parker. It was not going well. "Look man, I don't care if you want a hostage released, I want my demands met! It's about me!" The man pointed the gun barrel to his chest for emphasis. He reached down towards the floor and pulled a beautiful brown-haired, blue-eyed woman to her feet by her hair. She started to cry softly when the man pointed the gun at her and forced the receiver to her face.

"Sierra one." Ed whispered. He's escalating damn it.

"I have the solution." Sam answered from his perch on the second floor balcony. He started sniper breathing to keep his heartbeat down and his aim steady.

"Tell Sargent Parker what I'm doing." The man tightened his grip on her hair.

"Please." She cried into the phone. "Help me. He has a gun to my face."

"Phillip Boudreaux." Ed commanded. He stood, guns up and pointed at the subject, followed by the team. They moved forward and fanned out in a diamond formation, knees bent, each had their gun up and ready.

Phillip dropped the phone and whirled around. The woman nearly fell but the subject's grip on her hair helped her keep her feet under her. It was too painful to do anything but follow him. "I'll kill her." He started to sweat.

"You don't want to do that. All right, let's slow this down a minute." Ed put one hand up and lowered his gun. He had complete confidence that his team had his back.

"Yes because the longer you take to get what I ask, the more hostages I kill." Phil's heart was beating even faster now, his eyes glossing over.

"Phil." Ed put the gun strap back over his shoulder and let his gun fall behind him.

"Not a good idea Ed." Wordy tightened his grip on his gun.

"I understand what you're going through." Ed said calmly. "You lost your job at the factory, your wife left and took the kids. That couldn't have been easy." He dropped his hand and stood in a non-threatening position.

"She- She'll come back when I get my money. We can start over." Phil started to shake. He didn't want to talk about this. Money is the answer. Money will fix everything. How did they know about it?

"Lew, I'm coming in." Greg put his phone down and ran to the truck. He opened the door and stepped inside, standing behind Lew watching the monitors. "That's good Eddie, he's de-escalating."

"This isn't the answer Phil." Ed inched closer to the man every time he looked away. He'd heard Greg, but couldn't acknowledge him. He kept his eyes on the subject. "Just put the gun down and you'll find another way. You don't want to put them through this." He stopped when he was a foot away.

"They 're already going through it!" Phil waved the gun. "That's it. Time's up." He put the gun back to the brunette's head.

"Phil. Stop. Listen to me. We can't have you do that. Put the gun down or we will have to kill you. Do you understand?" Ed put his hand back up. Reality check.

"You're stalling!" Phil's arm began to shake. "No." He shook his head."No. Give me my MONEY!"

"Scorpio." Greg called. Every time he had to say that word he felt bad. There was a little bit of failure every time he couldn't talk someone out of doing something drastic. That was the job though. Sacrifice the one for the good of the many.

The shot rang true, hitting the subject in the middle of his forehead. The blood spattered the side of the brunette's face and she screamed. She fell to the floor with Phil's body and lay there crying when Spike ran to her. Jules rushed forward and secured the subject. She quickly pushed the gun away from the body with her foot, keeping her gun on him. Lew and Wordy put their guns down and moved to the 10 hostages crowded together on the floor.

"Subject neutralized." Ed stood over the body shaking his head.

Sam sighed and looked up, already knowing what he'd see. He picked up his gun and bag and headed for the stairs. An SIU officer was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs when he got there. They would take him to SRU Headquarters and interview him about the shooting. He looked over and met eyes with Ed. Ed tipped his head up and down slightly. Sam nodded back. It was silent and mutual understanding. Per protocol, no one was allowed to speak to a subject officer, meaning an officer who had to use deadly force on the job.

The brunette clutched Spike to her, her hands like claws in his sleeves. "You're ok. It's over now." Spike soothed as he held the hysterical woman tightly until the sobs subsided slightly. She looked up into Spike's eyes, saw the compassion there and was grateful. Spike motioned to the medics when they rushed into the building. They took the woman from Spike, putting a blanket around her shoulders. He looked to his right and saw there was another brunette next to the first. She had her head down and looked as though she was trying to remember how to breathe.

"Hey." Spike slid on his knees over to the woman and put a hand on her back. "It's over."

"Ar- are you sure?" She kept her head down her shoulder length hair falling by her face.

Spike nodded. She was close to the action, he thought. Definitely freaked. "I'm Spike. What's your name?" He kept one hand on her back and leaned his head down to try to see her face better.

"Angelica." She looked up for the first time since the incident started, but was still staring at the floor. She finally dared to lift her eyes to the officers face and was startled by the bright smile he was giving her.

"What do you say we get out of here?" Spike smiled, stood and put his hands out to help her up.

Angelica took a deep breath and took his hands. Almost all of the hostages were outside, having been herded out by the other SRU officers. They stood milling around the three ambulances parked in succession near the doors to the building.

Once she was up Spike pointed to the paramedics coming into the building and then to her to indicate she needed to be checked out. "You'll be ok. They'll check you out to be sure, ok?" He patted her shoulder and looked into her eyes.

Angelica nodded her head to him and followed the medics to the ambulance.

####outside the bank####

He's amazing! That Roman nose, dark eyes and crooked smile. Check out that bod. She thought. God. Look at her fawning over him. Pathetic! He doesn't want you! Really? You think that damsel in distress act is going to work? Please! Spike is way too smart for that. For you. He isn't mine, but he will be! She smiled, turned from the ambulance and walked away. She made her way through the crowd and down the street.


	2. Chapter 2

Spike walked into the barn ready to face the day. "Hey Winnie." He slapped his palm on the desk and smiled. I don't care if it is 5am, he thought. It's going to be a beautiful day.

"Morning Spike." Winnie sing-songed and smiled coyly. At his confused look, she stood and placed a basket full of various muffins on the counter.

Spiked furrowed his brows at her. Ok, she made muffins. Why did she say morning to me like that. His spider sense was tingling. He looked over the basket. It seemed normal, dark brown, a red and white checkered cloth in the bottom, a big red bow on top.

"They're for you." She teased.

"Me?" Spike perked up. Who would send me muffins, he mused.

Just then, Sam walked in. "Ooh. Spikey!" Sam laughed. He had his bag over his shoulder. He stopped next to Spike and play punched his shoulder.

Jules walked in just behind Sam. She walked to Spike's other side and stuck her neck out to look in the basket. "Hmm." She looked at Spike and winked.

"What?" Wordy walked in 10 seconds later. He furrowed his brows at them.

"Muffins!" Spike smiled and held up the basket.

Wordy was still confused. Spike got muffins or he made them? So he asked, "you made muffins?" If Spike had made them he would be surprised if they were edible. Spike did not take after his mother, the cooking guru. It was a possibility though, since Spike had recently started learning to bake with his mom. Wordy stopped and stood next to Sam, leaning over the counter to be able to see Spike.

"Got muffins. Who are they from?" Jules reached forward and read the tag out loud. "To my favorite, Spike. Thanks can never be enough for your help at the bank. Love, me." She leaned back and eyed Spike. "Oohh." Her voice went up and then back down. She raised her eyebrows at him suggestively.

"Oh come on." Spike looked away and blushed. Leave it to them to make it something to be picked on about. That was ok though, they wouldn't be like the siblings he never had if they didn't bust on each other.

"Well!" Sam patted Spike on the back breaking the awkwardness. He looked in the basket then up at Spike. "You're going to share right?" Without waiting, Sam took the basket and pulled muffins out one by one to determine what type they were.

"Help yourself." Spike laughed.

"Morning Team One." Greg said as he and Ed walked in together. Sensing a joke he surveyed his team. "What's up?"

"Spike got a love basket." Wordy looked back at Ed and Greg as they came to stood next to Sam.

"A love basket?" Ed questioned, a smile on his lips.

"Yeah. Apparently someone from the bank hold up yesterday is very grateful." Sam held a lemon poppy muffin up for them to see. His favorite. He handed the basket to Jules for her to make a choice. It only took him three bites to eat the small muffin, but he enjoyed every little bit.

"Hmm. Mr. Scarlotti, do you have something to share?" Greg raised an eyebrow and smiled. He loved this. It's 5am and they're already picking on Spike. This was, hopefully, a sign of how the day would be.

"No." Spike shrugged. "Want one? I'm spreading the love." He turned to offer the basket but it had disappeared. Wordy gave it to Spike after he had a chance to make his choice. Ed and Greg had politely declined.

During the basket heist, Lew had walked in and was standing by Greg and Ed. "Hey. I want one." Lew grinned. When Spike handed the basket to him, he said, "thanks love muffin."

Spike's face expanded in surprise and everyone laughed. "Nice." Spike nodded to Lew. Damn he's quick.

"Alright, let's work out!" Ed moved past them shaking his head and laughing. He headed into the locker room to change.

"You can keep these here." Spike set the basket on the desk. "Everyone should feel the love." He grinned and headed to the locker room. He wondered who had sent it. There were 10 hostages, 7 women and 3 men. He couldn't remember doing anything special. He got the hostages out after the subject was down. He shrugged and got changed for the workout.

##### elsewhere in the city #####

My gift is a JOKE? I do something nice and they laugh? They have some nerve! She sat glaring at the dark computer screen. The mini cam she had placed on Spike's vest was working perfectly. He didn't even notice it. Even though the camera was dark because the vest was in Spike's bag, the sound was coming through loud and clear. She wished they weren't up so damned early. 5am is way earlier than she expected him to be up. Luckily she'd been able to get used to it over the past month. She made sure the coffee maker was set to turn on at 4:45am to help wake her up. It made her a little testy at her 9-5, but she didn't care. Things were going the way she wanted. Except for the laughter. It made her want to step up her plan. She took in several breaths and calmed herself. The tricky part is his "family". Keeping them distracted is going to be the key to her plan. Yes. I have some fun planned for you, you hyenas. You'll never know until it's too late.

##### SRU HQ #####

"Team One! Hot call!" Winnie called to the team in the briefing room. Team One had finished their workout and had just sat down in the briefing room to discuss the plan for today.

They stood as one and ran out of the room. Greg and Ed stood at the desk while the others grabbed their gear.

"What do we have Winnie?" Greg asked, his adrenaline starting to pump.

"Umm. 911 has someone screaming on the line. Possible abduction. 1342 King, apartment 4B." Winnie looked at her screen.

"On our way. Ed, tactical. Winnie patch the call to me." Greg pointed to Winnie as he followed the team out the door.

"You got it." Winnie pushed her chair to the other side of the desk.

Ed and Greg went in one black suv, Jules, Sam and Wordy in the second and Lew and Spike in the van.

When there was a break in the action, Lew swiveled in his chair slightly and looked at Spike."So, muffins?"

"Yeah." Spike looked at him in surprise. "What about it?" Ah geez. Not this again.

"That's a first." Lew's eyes twinkled with mischief. It wasn't that often they got gifts for doing their jobs. Most of the time people would send nice notes or they never heard from them. That didn't bother them though. They knew people were grateful whether they voiced it or not.

"Just another person we helped." Spike shrugged and looked back at the screen.

"A possibility?" Lew leaned back and put a hand on his chest. "I mean, I know you have no problem with the ladies, but it may be worth looking into."

Spike looked at him and smiled. "Yeah maybe." Of course I don't have any problem with the ladies, he thought. Ok, well maybe haven't had a date in a little while but, what was he trying to say?

"When you two are done discussing Spike's love life-" Ed chimed in, the smile in his voice evident. Sometimes they forgot that the autoscripter was on and recording their every word.

"Or lack there of." Spike half mumbled. "What's up Ed?"

The rest of the call ran smoothly, with the subject giving up in the end. It turned out to be a domestic assault and not an abduction, but the team was happy to help. They were not usually involved in domestic situations, those went to the PD. Since it was called in as an abduction, it met their criteria. After everything was tied up, the team headed back to the barn to debrief.

After the debriefing, the team sat talking until the next call. They didn't have to wait long.

"Team One! Hot call." Winnie called. "Person spotted on the roof of City Hall. Witness says they're standing on the edge."

"On our way Winnie. Make sure the PD detains the witness and no one approaches the subject. SRU only." Greg patted the desktop on his way out. He was closely followed by the rest of the team since they already had their gear ready.

It took the team only 7 minutes to reach the scene. They piled out of the SUVs and opened the back of the SUVs to grab their guns in case they needed them. Jumpers can be very unpredictable.

"One of the tallest building in the city." Sam looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun with his gloved hand. Why do they always pick the tallest one? He didn't see anyone, but they may have stepped back from the edge. He hoped that was the case.

"No chance of survival." Jules sighed looking up too. Damn.

"Sam, check the schematic for the roof. See if there's a Sierra shot in case we need it. You're Sierra one." Sam answered with a copy that. "Wordy talk to the witness and see if you can get an ID. Lew you're with me. We're going to try to find an option in case she decides to jump." Ed ordered. He was met with two more copy that's.

"Jules you're my second. Spike, you're in the truck." Greg looked up. He wasn't necessarily afraid of heights, but he certainly didn't like them. Spike answered copy hat and headed to the truck.

"You all right Boss?" Jules had moved to stand next to him studied him.

"Yeah I'm good." He smiled. Except for the fact that I'm not a fan of heights, but she knows that. They walked into the building and headed for the elevator. A few minutes later they reached the top floor. They had to climb a short stairway to reach the roof. Greg and Jules braced themselves before they opened the door as they knew the wind would be heavier nearly 30 stories up. Sam arrived behind them just as they pushed the door open.

Sam nodded to them and looked down at the schematic and then at the trembling person on the edge. She had moved back to the edge. He turned to his left and found the perfect perch, a small building with a slightly pitched roof. It was perfect because the roof pitched back away from where the person stood. He could be out of sight and have a perfect view.

"Hi. My name's Greg Parker with the Strategic Response Unit. What's your name?" He walked forward slowly and stopped when he was about three feet from her.

No answer. The figure stood still, except for the perceptible shaking.

"Boss." Wordy said. He was standing with the PD officer in the gathering crowd on the street.

"Go ahead." Greg took a step back in case he needed to say something he didn't want the subject to hear.

"The witness is gone. The officer said she slipped away when someone asked him questions." Wordy couldn't keep the disappointment from his voice. "No one else saw her. The officer says she's about 5'4', shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes." Wordy looked around as he relayed the information. "I don't see anyone down here matching that description."

"Any description on the clothes?" Greg looked at the subject. They hadn't moved an inch.

Wordy asked the cop. "Jeans, white t-shirt, grey sweatshirt."

"Thanks Wordy. Start talking to people in the crowd, see if any of them saw her or the subject go in the building. Talk to the desk too." Greg turned to the person on the ledge. "So, you want to tell me why we're up here?" He stepped closer.

"I know why I'm here. Why are you here?" A steady female voice answered. She turned her head and saw that he was barely two feet from her. "Get back."

"We just want to help you." Greg stopped inching closer. Don't force her. He could see she was wearing jeans and a black hoodie, her face and hair hidden by the hood pulled up. "So why are you here?"

She sniffed. "You're a man. You wouldn't understand."

"Ok. Well would it be ok if my friend Jules took over?" Greg motioned Jules forward. She had been staying back to give him room to talk without pressure.

The subject turned her head to the side slightly and nodded. They could see that she had a huge shiner around her eye.

Jules stepped next to Greg who then moved back to where Jules was. "Hi. My name is Jules. I'm from the Strategic Response Unit. What's your name?" She moved to her right so she could try to make eye contact.

"Stop." The woman was crying now. She could feel herself getting dizzy.

"Ok. I've stopped. I won't come any closer if you don't want me to." Jules tipped her head forward trying to catch the woman's eye. She could tell this was a woman. Although she's dressed like a teenager, her face has the lines of someone older. "We just want to make sure you're ok and you don't look like you're ok."

The woman scoffed. "No. This will make it all go away."

"Eddie. Any options?" Greg asked in a hushed tone. The woman seemed to be in the yellow zone. Not hysterical, and still reachable.

"Not yet. We're also talking to people on our way up. One person saw her go up and didn't recognize her." Ed stood next to Lew who was interviewing the man that saw the jumper.

"The guy at the desk says he saw a woman go up with that description. He said she kept her head down and didn't answer him when he asked if he could help her." Wordy was at the desk with the man.

"Ok. Good job guys. Keep on it." Greg nodded and turned his attention back to Jules and the subject.

"Does it have to do with that black eye?" Jules questioned. She studied the woman carefully. Her voice and half of the face she could see read sadness, pain and hopelessness. Her body was reading confidence, tense readiness. Jules stepped back and said quietly into her headset. "Boss, I'm getting mixed signals here." She related what she was seeing.

"Sounds kinda iffy Jules. Be careful." Spike shook his head. He didn't like the sound of it. He also hated not being useful. There aren't any cameras on the roof, no tech needed. If they had a name or something on the subject he could be digging into her life, but so far they didn't have any other info than her description. He sighed in frustration.

"Sam. What do you see?" Greg looked to Sam's perch on the roof.

"Something doesn't feel right. Jules is right, her body language is opposite of what she's saying." Sam studied the woman through his scope. He started to get nervous for Jules. Don't get any closer Jules.

The woman turned away, careful to hide her face especially her smile. What a dumb bitch.

"Who did that to you?" Jules continued on her tract. "We can help you, arrest them."

"Can you?! Really?" She raged. "Is that what your training says? Connect, Respect, Protect. No one is protecting me. You can't. No one can." She looked down and turned the waterworks on again.

"De-escalate her Jules. She's moving back to red." Greg spoke softly Into his headset. His heartbeat picked up. This is where it gets dicey.

"Ok." Jules answered Greg and the subject simultaneously. "Let's slow this down ok." Jules put up her hands in a placating gesture.

"No. It's too late." She shook her head and looked down again. She looked up and said, "look at that sunset." She looked lovingly at the beautiful reds, yellow and oranges of the impending sunset.

"It's beautiful." Jules looked, then brought her gaze back to the subject and gave her a reassuring smile. "There are many more for you to see." Jules stepped closer, she had a bad feeling.

"Boss. We found a white t-shirt and grey sweatshirt in the stairway between 28 and 29." Ed was looking at the clothes in his hand. What the hell?

"Goodbye." The woman turned so only part of her face was visible to Jules. Just before she stepped off the ledge her shoulder length brown hair fell by her face. Then she was gone.

"No!" Jules cried and ran to the edge. What she saw left her speechless.

The woman was steering her black parachute around the side of the building. And laughing. Hysterically laughing.

Sam jumped down from his perch and ran to the back of the building. The parachute was nearly a ½ mile away and gaining. "Spike! She had a parachute! She's about a ½ mile northwest of here heading towards the art exhibit! The sail is black." He looked back and saw Greg and Jules running for the door. He ran and caught up with them on the stairs.

"Copy!" Spike climbed out of the back of the van and jumped in one of the SUVs with Wordy in the passenger seat. As soon as Wordy had heard 'parachute' he had run outside and watched the woman steer the chute away. "Wordy and I are in pursuit."

Everyone else piled into the elevators and waited the achingly slow 3 minutes to reach the street level.

Wordy kept an eye out the window, but with the impending darkness it was harder and harder to see the sail. "Ahh." He growled in frustration. "I lost it. The last I saw it was headed toward the building to the north."

"Alright." Spike grumbled. This lady had taken up their precious time and resources. Worst of all, she'd made a fool of Jules and the SRU."I don't get it. What is her game? Obviously she was the one who called 911, but why?"

"Yeah. What the hell?" Wordy continued to stare out the window, angry that the woman had put them through this. He willed Spike to go faster. We need to catch her!

They arrived at the building, jumped from the SUV, guns down but ready. The lights were on, which meant there was probably an event there tonight. The two SRU officers circled the building before finding the door to the basement. The rest of the team had arrived at this point. Sam, Spike and Lew started walking the perimeter in an spiraling circle looking for the chute. Ed, Greg, and Jules stood by while Wordy carefully opened the door, then using hand signals from Ed they spread out and searched the basement.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"I found a pile of clothes." Jules was in a back storage room. "She was prepared. I'll say that for her." Jules was steaming that the woman had gotten the drop on her. She made me look like a total fool! She thought angrily. She strung me along until she thought I was invested enough. Until I thought I was getting through to her. "Bitch!" Jules grabbed the metal shelf in front of her and shook it, hard. She was just about to kick it when Greg walked in.

"Jules? You okay?" Greg looked at her. He knew how she was feeling, it was all over her face. He waited for her to respond.

"Damn her." Jules fumed. She looked at him, her eyes blazing.

He could see she wasn't ready to talk. Greg put a hand on her shoulder and nodded. It'd come out at the debriefing.

"We went all the way around this place. No sign of her or the parachute." Spike reported angrily. "Damn it!"

"All right. Let's head back to the barn. I'm sure she's upstairs or gone. Without a definite description we can't crash the party. She had this planned out." Greg commanded. "Time to debrief." He looked at Jules who nodded.

##### inside the art museum#####

She watched from the window in her beautiful blue dress, her makeup perfect. Her fake black eye had been the selling point. She grinned from ear to ear. Everything timed out perfectly. She thought maybe she'd jumped too soon, but it was on point. She had time to get the chute back in the backpack she had hidden under her hoodie. Her brother had helped her rig it so the chute would come out of the slit in the hoodie at the back of the garment. She was afraid that with the hood up the slit would be noticeable, but obviously the cops were not that smart. She felt excitement and satisfaction that it was going as planned. It was obvious that the team was not impressed with her little stunt. Sucks to be you. She watched with delight as they gave up and climbed angrily back in their vehicles. The one downside was that Spike looked angry. Don't be angry sweetheart. That was for HER. She thinks she's so cool being the only girl. The SRU slut. Well, she doesn't feel so hot now. Her mouth twisted in an evil grimace.


	3. Chapter 3

"Winnie, Team One will be debriefing." Greg said as the team headed into the room. Once they were inside, the metal door dropped, locking them in. Jules, Sam and Lew sat on the side with the windows. Greg sat at the rad if the table. On the door side, Ed, Wordy and Spike. Ok. Let's go over this." Greg tipped his head down and looked at Jules who was sitting back in her chair glowering.

"Jules?" Ed looked across the table at her.

"That bitch. That- subject. Pulled me into her game. She waited until she had me-" Jules growled, gritting her teeth.

"She fooled us all." Lew cut in. "It wasn't real." His anger rose.

"It was a game!" Spike chimed in. "She set us up." He sat forward in his chair and looked at Jules who was nodding her head in agreement.

"Oh yeah. She had it all planned. She knew exactly what to do when, and she knew what we were going to do." Wordy slapped his hand on the table angrily.

"Yeah. Like she had inside help." Spike looked at Sam, understanding lighting his face. "But you couldn't have known that Jules." He blinked and looked at Jules until she locked gazes with him. "It's not your fault. You did what you were supposed to."

Jules sat up and started flipping through the transcript. She found what she was looking for and put her finger on it. "4:48. Officer Callahan: 'Who did that to you? We can help you.' Subject: 'Can you really? Is that what your training tells you? Connect Respect Protect. You can't protect me. No one can!'" She looked up at her teammates. "She quoted our motto. I Can't protect her. She didn't want to talk to the Sarge. She made it about me. She wanted to humiliate me." She poked her finger at the transcript angrily.

"Why?" Lew shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. What's she playing at?" He hated games. Why is that women play games? He knew men did it too, but this chick had made him want to make it a generalize.

"Someone I helped put away?" Jules narrowed her eyes, trying to think. There were many over the last couple years. Most of them team take downs. Maybe there was one or two she had played a major part in, but who?

"Did you get a good look at her Jules?" Ed put his hand out palm up on askance.

"She never showed me her whole face. Just one side. She had brown hair, straight cut to her shoulders and blue eyes. Approximately my height, 5'5, medium build." Jules rattled off. She didn't seem familiar to Jules. It was a pretty general description for a city of two million people though.

Something clicked in Spike's mind but he wasn't sure what it was. That description sounded so familiar.

"What's up Spike?" Wordy could see his friend trying to figure something out.

##### somewhere downtown #####

"Aww Spike. You're starting to remember me." She watched the images of the team flash on her screen. She was eating up Jules' reaction. "I'm sorry dear, but we can't have that. Not yet." She looked over at a second screen showing the exterior of Wordy's house, and smiled. God she loved technology! Especially her little toys like her specially outfitted silent drone parked outside her sliding glass door. She stopped at the table by the glass doors and picked up the remote, fitted with an hd screen. She turned it on and walked outside. "Fly my pretty, fly!" She knew she had to make this quick as she could still hear the team encouraging Spike to remember. Luckily she had just installed a better motor with more power. She cranked up the engine and sent it towards her intended target.

##### SRU HQ #####

"Wasn't there a couple brunettes-" Spike finally remembered.

Wordy's cell started ringing loudly. "Sorry guys." He stood up from the table and walked to a corner. "Hey Shel. We're debriefing, so-" he stopped and listened intently. His body language moved into a tense and fearsome stance. "Guys, I gotta go." Wordy looked at them frantically.

"What's wrong?" Ed stood and stepped towards him.

"Shel said she can smell gas. She's getting the girls out and calling the fire department." Wordy looked at them panicked. My girls.

Spike looked at them with a shocked look and said, "Let's go!"

Everyone stood and headed to the door, but Jules hung back a little bit. Sam saw this and moved to walk beside her.

"You ok Jules?" Sam flashed her a concerned look. He could see in her body language that she was still pretty pissed. He put a hand on her back.

"Yeah just have to work off some steam later." She nodded and looked at him. Whoa that just went sideways, she thought. The look in his expressive blue eyes the and half smirk on his face indicating he took that differently than she meant it. She forced her heart to slow down and pasted a 'what the hell?' look on her face.

Sam stifled a laugh at her look. She had thought the same thing, he had seen it in her eyes. Give her time, he thought. She's not there yet.

The team arrived at the same time as the fire department. Curious neighbors filed into the street wondering what was going on in their quiet neighborhood.

Wordy didn't wait until Spike had stopped the SUV completely before he jumped out. He frantically scanned the scene for his wife and daughters. "Shel!" Oh god. Where are they? The SUVs were made to stop behind a barrier set up by the fire department so they were a few houses down from Wordy's.

Shelly Wordsworth turned around holding their youngest in her arms. "Kevin!" She was so relieved to see him. They were standing at the end of the driveway, the girls huddled against their mother, not sure of what was happening.

Wordy ran to his family and held all four in his arms. "Are you girls ok?" He put a hand to each of their cheeks and kissed their foreheads when they nodded. He was relieved to see that they were ok and looked at the house in confusion.

"What happened?" Greg broke into their circle. They had to run to catch up with Wordy because of his early exit from the car. Everyone else crowded around so they could hear.

"The girls were brushing their teeth and getting into their pjs while I was downstairs doing the dishes. Suddenly I smelled gas, like really strongly. I got nervous so I got the girls out, called the fire department and Kevin." Shel waved to the house while she explained. The smell had been so strong that she knew there was something really wrong but she'd been low key about so she didn't scare the girls.

"Did you see or hear anyone outside or-" Greg's eyes flicked to Wordy. "Inside before the smell?" He knew that Wordy would fly off the handle if the answer was yes, but it needed to be asked.

"No, it's pretty dark. I was making noise with the dishes and listening to the girls." Shel looked back at the house again, feeling bad that she hadn't paid more attention.

"Mega mom multi-tasking." Spike smiled reassuringly at her. He could see this had upset her more than she let on. The small joke helped her release some tension and she flashed him a smile back.

A firefighter approached the group and looked at Shelly then Wordy. "Are you the owners of the home?"

"Yes we are." Wordy put his arm around Shelly, the other around the girls. He braced himself for what the fireman had to say. A man in a gas company uniform and an officer followed the fireman and were standing next to the fireman making their own eight person circle.

"Can we go back in yet? I'm cold." The youngest whined.

Wordy looked down at her, took off his work jacket, knelt down and put it around all three. "Share ok?" He said in his stern dad voice. He looked up at the fireman, concern in his face.

"We had the gas company turn off the gas to the home. Someone broke off the main shut off valve." He handed the valve to Wordy. He had concern written all over his face.

"This wouldn't happen naturally right?" Wordy examined the valve, turning it over in his hand. His anger rose when he saw the end of the stem. Someone had tried to harm his family? Motherf-.

The man from the gas company spoke up. "No sir. You can see from the stem that someone or something bent it back and forth until it broke off. That definitely wouldn't happen with a system failure." He explained.

"Son of a-" Wordy cut himself off, remembering the girls. I'll kill them. I'm going to kill whoever did this. His whole body tensed with his anger.

"You're lucky you got out when you did. It was a fast leak. Five more minutes and it could've been deadly." The fireman said. He could see the homeowner was not taking this well, but who would? If someone tried to harm his family he would probably have the same look on his face.

Wordy looked to his team, fear and murderous rage burning in his eyes. Spike put a hand on Wordy's shoulder and gave him a 'We got your back' look. They were all getting angry, the more they heard. It wasn't just the team that they considered family, it was their loved ones too. When one hurt, the group rallied.

"Why would someone do this?" Shelly frowned. She put a reassuring hand on her oldest daughter's head. She couldn't fathom who would want her precious girls.

"I don't know but I promise you they will not get away with it." Wordy took a breath and faced her, not wanting her or the girls to see him so angry. He looked at the fireman, "Is it safe to go in there?"

The fireman shook his head. "You'll have to let it air out overnight and the gas has to stay off until the valve is replaced." The fireman answered.

"That'll take two to three days." The gas man interjected.

"We'll need time to investigate as well." The officer finally spoke. He recognized the group as SRU officers so he knew they knew procedure.

"You can stay with me." Greg offered. "I have an extra room and a pull out couch so it'll be tight, but that's ok."

"I have two extra rooms. One is a weight room, but I can move stuff around. I have a couple air mattresses and a couch." Sam offered.

"Or you could all be comfortable at my house. I did just buy a three bedroom house." Jules smirked. She wasn't surprised Greg and Sam had offered their places. It's what family does, but she wanted to cut off Lew and Spike before they offered. She had the perfect solution, her new house.

The fear and anger ebbed a bit as Wordy looked at his chosen family. he couldn't be prouder to be part of this group. "I'll be right back." Wordy looked at Shelly. She nodded, understanding the the fear in his eyes. Something wasn't right.

Wordy stepped away and into the circle of friends. "This was malicious. Someone targeted them and me." His anger bubbled to the surface again and threatened to overflow.

"Agreed. Someone is targeting this team, but why?" Greg took off his hat and rubbed his hand over his head and eyes. He was just as pissed that someone was messing with his team, his brothers and sister. The situation just went from some sort of prank to dangerous.

"First we get Shel and the girls somewhere safe." Ed interjected angrily. "Then we deal with this..person." He paused, not for dramatic effect, but to reign his anger. His blue eyes were a dark blue, almost black with rage.

Spike could see his friends working to control their anger. He was doing his best to do the same. He looked at Wordy with concern.

"Do you think her parents' house would be best since it's over an hour away?" Greg asked. "We can ask the PD there to have a uni watch the house."

"I-" Wordy was conflicted. He wanted to be with his family, but he knew he couldn't until they found the person responsible.

Shelly walked over, she could see her husband needed her. "Hon." She put a hand on his shoulder. When he turned, she gave him a comforting hug. "I overheard. We're ok. And I think we'll be ok at Mom and Dad's." She pulled back and looked in his eyes. She kissed him lightly and sweetly, reassuring him.

She always knows what to say, Wordy thought. He gave her a small smile. "Ok." He conceded.

Shelly walked over to the firefighter and asked if she could get some clothes and things for everyone. The firefighter told her only if she wore a suit and mask. Wordy heard this and volunteered to go in. He got suited up and walked in with a firefighter.

The team stepped away from Shel and the kids.

"We need to figure this out." Lew furrowed his brow, anger in his voice.

"We need to stay together." Sam said with more force than he meant to.

"Copy that on both." Ed agreed. "At least until we figure this out."

"I think everyone should call their families and arrange for them to be out of town for a few days." Greg said. He felt very concerned for his extended family. If someone messed with Wordy's family, they could possibly mess with the others.

"Yeah." Ed turned, walked to the SUVs and pulled out his phone.

Lew nodded and turned away to call his parents.

"Spike?" Greg tipped his head down to try to catch Spike's eye. He saw the panic cross the Italians face.

Crap, Spike thought. He hadn't told them his dad was sick in the hospital. Well, dying. He shook that thought. His dad is strong. He can fight. He wasn't trying to hide it from them, he just hadn't told them.

Jules furrowed her brows and put a hand on Spike's shoulder. "They'll be ok."

"Yeah." Spike looked at her and half-smiled. "Be right back." He walked away, taking out his phone and dialing the hospital.

Sam frowned after Spike. There was something his teammate was hiding. He could see it in Spike's body language. He turned and locked gazes with Greg. Something's up. Greg's nod agreed.


	4. Chapter 4

Ed, Lew and Spike returned to Greg, Sam and Jules after making their calls. Wordy joined them after his trek into the house and he made sure the women in his life were headed away from the danger.

"So what's the plan?" Spike asked. He knew the current situation would keep them from asking about earlier.

"First we need to get back to the barn and change." Greg said and started walking back to the SUVs, the team following. "Best if we stay together until we figure this out. So go home, get what you need-"

"Go careful." Ed cut in, meeting eyes with each of them. If something happened to any of them it would be truly devastating. For a second he considered telling them to stay together and make stops at people's houses, but he reigned in his fierce protectiveness. He knew they could handle themselves.

"And meet at my house." Jules finished. "My offer still stands. It'll be the most comfortable."

"You sure Jules?" Greg questioned.

"Absolutely." Jules smiled. Where else would they go, she thought.

"I'll get supper, pizza good with everyone?" Sam offered as they climbed in the SUVs. He was approved by six copy that's.

The fire department and gas company pulled away at the same time as the team. The PD was still doing their investigation so they stayed on scene. Wordy had locked the house and gave the officers a key in case they needed to go inside.

Each team member had been very careful when they went into their residences. Guns were drawn and every inch was secured. They met up at Jules' house about 40 minutes later.

"Hey." Ed nodded to Jules when she opened the door. He walked in, turned left into the family room where the others were eating pizza and having an intense discussion. Ed threw a pencil sized camera on the coffee table causing the others to stop talking and look at him. "Found that on the roof of my house pointed into my family room." He pointed angrily. He was more than angry, he was pissed off.

Sam sat on the couch with Lew and Wordy. All three looked over their shoulders when Ed came in. Once Ed had come to stand at the side of the couch next to Wordy, Sam said, "mine was pointed at my living room." He opened his hand to reveal the exact same device.

"Kitchen window." Lew said. "It's the only one someone could use since my apartment is on the third floor. All the other windows are small, not much of a view."

"I found two. One at pointed at the living room and the other at my bedroom." Spike threw them angrily on the coffee table next to the others.

"One at mine too." Greg ran his hand over his head and nodded to the table at his.

"One more here. Pointed at that window and I would assume one at Wordy's." Jules pointed to the window to her right, the one facing the street and then raised her chin at Wordy.

"So, any ideas?" Greg asked. The team certainly had a laundry list of enemies from their calls over the past year together. Lots of bad people behind bars, some that didn't get that far and the family of the few they'd lost. First the jumper, then the gas main at Wordy's and now cameras at each team member's house. What the hell?

"Oh plenty." Wordy answered pounding his fist into his open palm. Just let me get my hands on them for a few minutes. I'll make them sorry they ever even looked at my family.

"I know we're all angry," Greg started, looking into their eyes. "But we need to stay focused. This is what she wants. We go off half-cocked, make a mistake, and she takes advantage." He received six copy that's in answer.

"Eddie?"

"I'm sure she's pissed we found her cameras." Ed half smiled at the thought that they botched at least that much of the subject's plan. "So she knows we're onto her. Possible she'll back off." He hoped.

"I don't know." Sam shook his head. "It doesn't feel over to me. She's just getting warmed up. Why else would she be keeping track of us?"

"Should we take a few days off and do some background work?" Spike asked. "I can try to trace these cameras." He picked one up examining it closer. Should be fairly easy to break these open, he thought.

"May be what she wants." Sam shrugged, putting his hands up, palms up.

"We can't know what she's thinking until we know who she is." Ed argued.

"Ok." Greg nodded. They were on day three (Wednesday) of their four day rotation. Team Two was on their four day after them. "I'll call Halloren and see if we can switch tomorrow for Monday with Team Two so we can try to figure this out." He had confidence it wouldn't take long for them to figure it out. The events of the day had definitely motivated the team to find this person, and fast. He pulled out his phone and stepped away to make the call. Before he did he turned to them and said, "Tonight we relax."

The six team members looked at each other and exchanged looks of 'yeah right.'

"I have a workout room in the basement." Jules offered. Six nods (the Commander hadn't picked up yet so Greg added his nod to the others. 20 minutes for everyone to change and they were gathered in the mirrored workout room.

"Wow." Sam had been the first to reach a point in the stairs to look at the finished basement and the large open area Jules had set up as her workout room. It was all open except for a door on the far right side that led to the laundry/boiler room. He reached the bottom, walked forward and looked around at the various machines and free weights. A TV was mounted to the wall in front of the treadmill and elliptical directly in front of him. To his right were two weight racks with Dumbbells from 15 to 50 pounds on them and three kettlebells weighing 30, 45 and 60 pounds respectively.

"Nice!" Spike reached the bottom and headed for the free weights followed by Wordy and Lew.

"Elliptical for me." Greg headed to the machine next to the free weights.

"Bowflex." Ed pointed to the machine to the left of the treadmills. It was actually out more toward the middle of the room because there was a sauna in the left corner.

"Treadmill is mine." Jules eyed it with determination. Time to work off some anger. She thought as she stretched. She wanted to run until her legs fell off.

Sam nodded seeing the look in her eye. He put an ear bud in and climbed on the treadmill next to her. He started out at a slow jog to warm up.

Usually Jules only wore one earbud like the others so she could hear the conversations, but this time she wanted to drown in the music. She started out at a moderate pace to warm up. It didn't take long before she was pounding along at a fast clip, the fast beats helping her to keep pace. Her thoughts drifted to the jumper call. 'Ok. I've stopped. I won't come any closer if you don't want me to.' She had tipped her head forward trying to catch the woman's eye. 'We just want to make sure you're ok and you don't look like you're ok.' The woman scoffed.'No. This will make it all go away.' Then not long after she had said: 'Look at that sunset' Jules reached out again 'There are many more for you to see.' The answer, 'Goodbye.' She felt the same stab to her heart when the women stepped over the edge into oblivion. Her eyes started to tear as she pushed her legs as fast as they would go.

Sam heard Jules' breathing and pace quicken. It was faster than she usually went. He looked over and saw the tears forming, her eyes filling. He pulled the emergency stop on his treadmill, stepped off and stood beside her. "Jules." She couldn't hear him.

She reached up and wiped her eyes. Her feet started to get away from her until her treadmill suddenly stopped. She bent over, chest heaving. "Damn her." She fought to keep the tears at bay.

"Jules!" Sam was even more insistent, the emergency stop in his hand. He'd said her name four times.

She pulled her earbuds out and stayed bent over. Sam's voice had finally reached her.

The others had stopped what they were doing and were standing on all sides of her.

"Jules." Greg bent down so he could see her face.

"Good Boss." Jules stood and walked from the room not looking at any of them.

"Sam." Greg looked at him. Without saying a word, Sam knew what the boss wanted. Go make sure she's ok. Sam nodded and went upstairs, while the others returned to their workouts. All of them went hard, working off their own anger and frustration. Wordy sweated especially hard, trying not to think what he would've done if he lost any of his girls, his world.

When Jules opened the door to her room on the third floor 20 minutes later, her hair still wet from her shower, Sam was leaning against the wall next to the door. "Hey." She half-smiled.

"Hey. Can I come in?" He stopped her before she stepped out of the room and pointed to the interior. His blue eyes were filled with concern.

She hesitated for a beat. Sam in my room. That's not a good idea. He just wants to talk. Don't be silly. She took a breath and stepped aside.

Sam crossed the room to the chair at her mirrored desk and sat down. He purposely avoided the bed in the middle of the room, where she sat. "Feel better after your shower?"

Again she paused. "Yeah." She shrugged. She was glad he'd come to check on her.

"She duped you. I get your anger." He looked her in the eye.

"It's not just that." Her voice waivered again. How to explain? She looked at the carpet, afraid he would agree she'd screwed up. "When she went over the edge-" she stopped, and snuck a look at him.

He said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

Jules took a deep breath. "I thought she was gone. I failed and she jumped. I failed, Sam." She looked back down, unable to keep looking in those intense eyes. She was afraid he would agree. If the woman hadn't had a parachute, she would've died and Jules couldn't stop her. Nothing she had said would've stopped her.

"No way. You didn't fail Jules." He shook his head. "She jumped because that was part of her plan. Engage the SRU and make us look like idiots. She was jumping no matter what you said." He could see she was still avoiding eye contact, guilt. He went to her and kneeled in front of her so she had to look him in the eye. "No matter what."

She wanted to believe him. It made sense. It was part of the subject's plan. Part of whatever sick game she was playing. She held his gaze for a moment. She blew out a breath and nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am." He smiled.

She laughed. "Don't let it go to your head." Oh lord, she thought. He'll never get his head out the door if it swelled any more. They already called him Samtastic. She stood and he followed. "Thanks."

"Anytime." He smiled. Ok, so do I hug her? Instead he turned and walked out of the room. "You better figure out the sleeping arrangements. I think they said they were going to arm wrestle for the beds." He tossed over his shoulder.

"Men." She laughed and shook her head. She walked the short space from her door to the stairs in a few steps. The room to her right was going to be the master since it also connected to her large bathroom, but she liked this one. The one to her left was good sized too, but no bathroom.

When they walked down the stairs, they heard the guys cheering and grunting. They walked into the living room to find Ed and Wordy on opposites sides of the coffee table hands clasped, arms locked, biceps bulging. Both of their faces showed the immense strain.

"I've got winner." Sam announced.

Spike and Lew nodded. They were on the couch on either side of Wordy. Greg also nodded. He was sitting in the arm chair between Lew and Ed. Jules sat in the lazy boy on the other side of Ed while Sam stood next to her and Spike.

It took several minutes before Wordy was finally able to get Ed's hand down to the table. There were loud hoots, shouts of surprise and cheering. No one had been able to beat Ed. Ever. Wordy smiled at Ed and shrugged while Lew and Spike patted his back. They did this for several more rounds, but no one was able to beat Wordy tonight.

Wordy looked at Jules and motioned to the table. She smiled at him but shook her head. "Yeah I'm good. We'll just say you're undefeated."

"For tonight." Ed gave him a pointed look which made Wordy smile even broader. I'm not living this one down, thought Ed.

Jules finally said good night around 10 and the others soon followed. Unfortunately Jules didn't have beds in both of her spare rooms. Luckily she had an air mattress and Sam had brought his three he used for camping. Ed and Greg had taken the room with the twin bed and twin air mattress that shared her bathroom. Spike and Lew took the "storage room" as Jules had called it when she embarrassingly went in and moved stuff around so they could fit two air mattresses in it. Spike and Lew had laughed and told her it was ok, it's not often she has six men come take over her house. Or was it? She had given them a quelling look and left the room. Spike laughed at that, was that a yes?

Wordy took the last air mattress and put it in the living room while Sam took the couch.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam walked back into the house after his run and stopped at his bag in the living room to get his shaker cup and a plastic bag with protein powder in it. He was careful not to tip it so the metal mixing ball inside didn't clang against the side. He found Jules in the kitchen making coffee..

"Morning." Sam smiled at Jules and moved to the sink. He dumped a quarter of the powder in the cup and then added water.

"Morning." Jules whispered and looked past him at Wordy who was still sleeping. "Blech. I still can't believe you like that stuff." She made a face at him as she filled her coffee cup.

"Best way to recover after a workout." He shrugged. He knew the team would get a workout in this morning so he saved the rest of the powder for his drink after.

"Only it tastes like crap." She sipped her coffee and looked through the dining room to the front of the house. The sun hadn't quite made it's way into the sky yet, but the view from the front was breathtaking. Jules walked through the dining room to the front window seat, her mind telling her to follow her routine. As she walked by the living room she looked in and noticed Wordy sitting up. "Morning Wordy."

Wordy smiled and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Morning Jules."

Jules smiled, "coffee's ready." He nodded. She sat down in the window seat, leaned back against the pillows and pulled her legs up so her knees were close to her face. She put her head back and watched the reds, yellows and oranges flamed across the sky mixing with the deep blue.

Wordy walked over to her. "How're you doing?" He didn't want to disturb her reverie, but after last night he wanted to be sure she was ok.

"Good." She smiled at him. "This is my favorite spot. I have coffee here every morning." She looked at him, analyzing his face. "How are you?"

"I'm ok."Wordy shrugged then looked out the window. It was true. Now that he knew Shel and the girls were safe he could concentrate on their task. He changed the subject. "You have an amazing view here." He heard stirring upstairs, then saw Lew came down the stairs and go into the guest bathroom next to the living room. "Mind if I use your bathroom?" He asked Jules looking back at her.

Jules nodded and called after him, "make sure you lock the door. That connects to Ed and the Boss' room." He answered her with an ok and she thought for a second that she shouldn't have told him. It would've been funny if Ed or Greg had walked in on him, although they might not have thought so.

When Wordy went back downstairs, Greg and Ed were getting coffee. "Morning." He nodded to them. He went to the coffeemaker and poured himself the last of the coffee. He called to Jules, asking how to make more and she told him.

Spike came down the stairs shortly after Wordy. He stood in the living room sleepily rubbing his belly, stretching his arms up and yawning. He tipped his nose up and sniffed the air. Oh sweet nectar of the bean! He turned and followed his nose into the kitchen. He poured himself a cup and then followed the group to the dining room where they had migrated to moments earlier, including Jules.

Greg looked at them all and asked, "everyone sleep ok?"

"Only when floppy here was still which was not often." Spike elbowed Lew and smiled. It was a stretch of the truth at best. The air mattress did squeak a little, but only if you moved just right. He could see the team was still holding their anger in and needed a laugh.

"Floppy?" Ed asked incredulously.

"Yeah. You know, flip flopping in bed." Spike put up his hand and flipped it over from back to palm several times to demonstrate. "So I'm guessing you don't have sleepovers very often?" He looked at Lew who was red faced and laughing hard.

"Not unless he gives them Dramamine first." Jules said seriously and sipped her coffee.

"Oh!" Sam, Wordy and Spike said together, their faces elongating with surprise as they looked at each other.

"Damn!" Ed said to Jules, giving her a high five from across the table.

It took several minutes before they were all calmed down enough to speak.

Greg was the first. He looked at the clock. "It's 0500. Let's get a workout in."

They all nodded and headed to the basement. There were several instances when the workout stopped because someone had slipped 'floppy' into the conversation and hilarity ensued. After they had worked out in the gym for about an hour, Greg ordered them to suit up for sprints in the backyard.

Spike and Lew were doing just that in their room when Spike frowned at his vest. What is that little black thing? He pulled the vest closer to his face.

##### an apartment downtown #####

"Well. Hello there." She said out loud. She sounded light hearted, but she was furious. Dammit. How did he see it? She had made sure to put it between two pockets so it would be concealed but give her a good view. Shit! "Well, that changes things." She snapped the laptop shut.

****Jules' house****

"What the-?" Spike pulled on the small button looking thing. It snagged and he had to pull a little harder to get it to pull off. He turned it over and saw what had caused the snag. It had tiny gripping teeth to help it stay in put. He looked again at the front and realized he was looking at a camera lens.

"What is that?" Lew had stopped dressing when he heard spike speak. He walked he few feet between them and stood next to Spike looking at the tiny thing in his hand. "You have a button come off?" He squinted at the thing between Spike's fingers.

"No. It's a camera! A freakin' camera!" Spike yelled.

"Spike? Lew?" Ed called from downstairs. "Status." He had been standing in the living room with Sam, Wordy and Greg and moved to the bottom of the stairs when he heard the commotion.

"No harm." Lew called. They both moved from the room and met Jules outside their room.

"But pissed off." Spike said as he descended the stairs first. Lew and Jules had their gear on, but Spike held his vest in his hand and the camera in his other outstretched hand.

Ed got the first look. "What the hell?"

"What happened?" Greg stepped forward. The others moved forward with him.

"This." Spike put out his hand to Greg.

"You were yelling about a button?" Wordy's eyebrows knit together as he looked down at the tiny thing.

"No. A camera. It was on my vest. I wouldn't have seen it if I wasn't checking this pocket to make sure I had my knife." He looked at them and pointed to the pocket at the top of the vest, fury in his eyes. "She's been watching and most likely listening to everything when I had this on." He felt violated and extremely angry at her intrusion.

"What?" Sam took it out if Spike's hand and turned it over.

"Is it still transmitting?" Greg asked.

"Yeah I'm sure it is." Spike shrugged.

"Show's over." Greg took it from Sam and handed it back to Spike.

"Damn straight." Spike flipped the piece over and looked at the back. He ran back upstairs and grabbed his kit. When he got back, everyone had moved to the living room. Wordy, Lew and Sam on the couch, Ed in the lazy boy next to Wordy, Jules sat on the arm of the couch next to Sam and Greg on the arm chair. Spike walked between Ed and Wordy and sat on the floor at the end of the coffee table. He put it on the coffee table with the lens down. It took him only a few seconds to get the back off and disable it from broadcasting with his tools.

"See if there's anything in it or in those," Greg pointed to the pencil cameras on the table which Spike had disabled last night, "that we can use to trace this subject. But first, I think some sprints are waiting for us." He received six copy that's. They were actually all glad for the distraction and the chance to work off some frustration.

After they finished their sprints, the team returned to their rooms to take off their gear. Before they put it away, every one of them went over each item with a fine toothed comb. Satisfied that there weren't any other cameras, the line for the shower formed. No one wanted to get Jules' furniture sweaty so they stood around while she went first.

"Next!" Jules opened her door a crack and called out 10 minutes later. "Remember that after this person showers you'll have to give the tank time to heat up more water." She received five copy that's from downstairs.

When she returned to the living room, Spike was sitting on the couch looking over the cameras, his hair still wet from his shower. Ed was in the kitchen making a protein shake, while Wordy was on the phone. Greg sat in the recliner by Spike enjoying his second cup of coffee and thinking.

Wordy walked into the living room after his call and sat in the other recliner. His body was more relaxed.

"Shel and the girls ok?" Greg asked. He could see that Shel had worked her magic and calmed Wordy. Damn she's good, he thought.

"Oh yeah. They love Nana and Poppa's." Wordy smiled. "I talked to the pd too. They're going to keep an eye on the house for a few more days." That had also made him feel better about being away from them.

"Good." Greg smiled and nodded his head.

Once everyone had showered and changed, they gathered in the living room.

"Spike. Have you been able to find anything on the cameras?" Greg asked.

"Not much. It looks like they're sending the signal to an IP address, but I haven't tried to trace it yet." He pulled out his laptop and started typing, feeling right at home.

"Good. Any ideas on who this person might be." Greg looked at them.

"It doesn't seem like she's after just one of us." Sam said. "First Jules, then we have to assume Wordy's was her too." That was a low blow he thought.

"What's the end game though?" Ed asked, looking at Sam.

"I don't think we're going to know until she wants us to." Sam shook his head. I hate mind games, he thought angrily.

"And that could be too late." Jules answered sighing.

"Yeah. We need to get ahead of her." Greg ran his hand over head, thinking. "So we know it's a female, 5'5, brown hair, blue eyes. We need to look back at our cases and see if anyone matches that description."

"For the last year? That'd be a lot of possibilities." Lew made a 'that's going to suck to sift through' face.

"Well, I'm running into a dead end with the cameras." Spike said irritably. "She's smart. She has it spoofing through IPs all over the world, which I can usually isolate, but the last one is off a TV station."

"Ok." Sam looked at him questioningly.

"Well that signal is like a big blanket over the area it covers," he spread his hands out and moved them out over the coffee table. "So the signal piggybacks and can go anywhere the TV station broadcasts. Nearly impossible to trace."

"How big of an area?" Greg was sure he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Big. Like most of this province and Quebec." Spike looked at them feeling like a failure. He usually didn't have any problems with this techie stuff. He shook off the self-doubt and looked back at his computer. "Let me see if there's a way to isolate the piggyback." Suddenly he looked up. "Guys, the button cam."

Sam picked it up and immediately dropped teeth had ground into his thumb when he pinched it between his thumb and forefinger. "Ow."

"Exactly!" Spike picked the camera up off of the carpet. "Those little teeth are sharp to help hold it on, but someone had to get close to me to put it on. They had to put it in place and twist to get the teeth to grip." Spike looked at them with astonishment. Someone got close. Too close. He suppressed a shudder at the thought that someone had been able to do this.

"Ok, so who's gotten that close?" Lew frowned. Usually Spike was in the truck unless there was a bomb situation or they needed him on tactical.

Wordy frowned, thinking back. "Well there was the gang shootout a few days ago. You cleared some civilians from the crossfire."

"The warrants we ran the day before, there were a few neighbors that got in the way." Sam looked at Spike remembering what a pain in the ass they'd been. They'd almost gotten shot because they wouldn't leave without their phones.

"The bank." Ed nodded. "You helped the hostages."

"Yes! That's what I was starting to say yesterday during debrief. There were two brunettes at the bank. Both had blue eyes, I think." He was trying to remember. They were both very beautiful, but they almost looked like twins in his mind. Brown hair, blue eyes about the same height.

"Ok, well let's start running leads. Wordy, Lew, Sam and I will go to the barn and start looking over the files. We'll start checking people's backgrounds and talking to them." The three stood, answering copy that. "Spike, you keep working on the signal. See if you can trace it and get us an address. Jules, Ed, you guys stay here and try to help Spike. I don't want anyone going anywhere alone. Someone is after this team. We are need to watch each other's backs."

"Copy that!" Six voices raised together in agreement.

***outside Jules' house***

Damn! She thought angrily listening to them from her spot under the kitchen window at the back of the house. She had attached one of their listening devices to the window. She smiled evilly. They won't be together much longer. She snuck to the end of the house to watch them leave. She looked at her watch, 1030. Perfect. If this went as planned, she would have time to cook later. Five minutes later the four teammates walked to the SUV and climbed in. They rolled down the road about 30 feet before she turned away and pressed the send button on her cell. A loud boom sounded, then metal scraping asphalt, glass flying everywhere and muffled screams. She heard shouts from inside and watched the chaos, enjoying every second.

***inside Jules' House***

"What the hell was that?" Ed ran to the window closely followed by Jules and Spike. Their hearts dropping. They knew what a bomb going off sounded like.

"Oh my god!" Ed ran to the door, panic and fear dictating his actions. He could see the SUV on it's side, glass and metal everywhere, a large black mark on the pavement where the SUV had landed on it's side and slid to a stop. "Spike! Call it in!"

Spike turned and ran back into the house grabbing Jules' handset in the living room. Jules followed Ed to the SUV silently praying for her team. Spike walked to the open front door and stood there waiting for 911 to pick up.

***outside, Jules' backyard***

Yes. Go save them. So predictable. You are my puppets. She opened the back door as silently as she could. She could see to the front door where Spike stood talking on the phone his hand on his head. She slowly walked up to him, being sure to go slow and make no noise. "Hello Spike." She said sweetly. He turned slightly but before he could make it all the way around she stuck the needle in his neck.

What the-. Spike thought as he started to turn around. That voice sounds kind of familiar. Stabbing pain in his neck. Ow, what did she-? His head started spinning, his eyes blurring. Blackness came quickly and he fell to the floor in a heap.

Now we will be together. She smiled. Oh yes. Now you're mine.


	6. Chapter 6

"Oooooh." Sam was the first to wake although he kept his eyes closed and self-assessed. Arms, legs, torso seem ok. Breathing, painful. Maybe a broken rib. Level 6. He flexed his toes and fingers. Extremities are moving, that's a good sign. He opened his eyes and realized he was hanging sideways, the seatbelt holding him in. Sarge was in the same position in the driver's seat except that the center console was keeping him from falling sideways. "Wordy." He couldn't see him in the front passenger seat. "Status." He reached his hand down and tried to reach Lew whose head looked to be bleeding. Even with his seatbelt on, Lew's head had hit the window when they tipped. "Lew!" Sam's voice felt gravelly. He grabbed the driver seat and put his left foot under it. He released his seat belt then stepped down with his right foot on the bottom bracket of the passenger seat. He turned to his right and stuck his right foot in between the top and bottom of the seat and moved his left foot to the bottom of the passenger seat so he could squat and check on Lew. He could see the blood, but knew from experience that head wounds bleed a lot.

"Greg! Wordy! Sam! Lew!" Ed was running full tilt at the SUV. "Status!" Oh god, please let them be ok. He reached it by the time Sam had gotten himself free. He came to a full stop when he heard a familiar voice from inside.

"Ed!" Sam called to him. "They're still out."

He took a breath. One ok, three more to go. "Stay put. Help is coming!" Ed went to the back, opened the gate and looked in. The whole back tire and part of the axle had been blown off, the metal peeled back like a banana and poking into the cargo area. He cautiously climbed in. "Sam, you ok?"

"Yeah, maybe a concussion and a broken rib. He held his side when he tried to breathe deeply. What the hell happened? His head was a little fuzzy. Was that a bomb?

Ed nodded and squatted down by Lew's head. He'd learned to trust Sam's self assessments. It was something Sam had learned to do in his JTF2 days and was always accurate. He reached through the space between the seat and the top of the SUV and put his fingers on Lew's neck. Lew started to stir. Ed moved his hand and put it on Lew's shoulder.

"Shhit." Lew tried to move, but his head was pounding and pain was shooting down his right arm under him. He frowned. Is that blood I smell? And something blew up. Did I blow up? Am I dead? He looked around, slowly moving his head, no I'm in the SUV.

"Easy." Sam bent down, holding onto the seat. He took Lew's hand and squeezed. "You're ok. Don't move your head. Just sit tight, EMS is coming."

"I've got him." Ed looked past Sam at Greg who was still unconscious.

"Wordy, Boss. Status." Sam turned and saw that Greg was coming around. Sam moved so that he was sitting on the console and supporting Greg with his side. This also made it so he could see Wordy.

"Damn." Greg grimaced. Oh man. What the hell? He looked at Sam, confused. "IED?"

"Possibly. You ok?" Sam looked in Greg's eyes. He looked pretty out of it, but generally ok. "Do you know my name."

"Yeah. Jules." Greg gave him a little smile and received one in return. "I'm a little.. Where were we going? A call?" Greg held his head. It was pounding, making his vision blur.

"Who needs what?" Jules appeared at the back of the SUV. She was relieved to see everyone seemed ok, especially that Sam was upright and was talking to Greg. she was shocked to see the rear passenger tire and axle completely gone and a big hole in its place. She looked down and saw Lew still on what had become the floor.

"Wordy hasn't come around yet. Can you come in here and check on him?" Sam was getting tired trying to hold Greg up and the pain it caused his chest. His breathing was getting labored. Sniper breathing. Slow and steady.

"Copy that." She helped Sam climb to her side before she climbed over the seat and took his position on the console. She held onto the seat with her right hand and put a finger on Wordy's neck with her left. It was tough with Greg's weight pushing her to topple towards Wordy. Strong pulse. "Wordy. Can you hear me?" She asked as pulled herself back up and shook the shoulder close to her. She couldn't keep the tears from forming. Please wake up, she begged silently. He finally stirred, but it wasn't for long. She could see blood pooling by his head. She looked at Ed. "He's in and out."

"Ok. Boss, we need to get you out of that seat. Ccan you hold onto the steering wheel for a second? I need you to hold yourself up so I can get your seatbelt off." Greg nodded although he wasn't really sure he understood. She undid his belt. "Ok good. I'll support you again. Just rest for a minute. It lLooks like EMS is here so we're going to wait for them." She looked through the windshield and saw the flashing lights. Thank God. She thought. She looked down at Wordy, he was in and out of consciousness.

Two medics appeared at the back of the SUV. One went to Sam who was holding his side still trying to do sniper breathing. The medic took his pulse and was concerned. "Are you having trouble breathing?" Sam nodded. "Broken rib, concussion. Help Lew, Wordy and the Boss." The medic put an oxygen mask on Sam and looked to where his partner was working on a young black guy on the back passenger seat with a bald guy. He looked up and saw Jules sitting on the middle console holding Greg upright with her body. "Can you guys come out?"

"He's really confused. I think we'll have to take him out his door. I have someone else in the passenger seat who's in and out of consciousness.". She started to panic because Wordy had started to moan.

"Ok, are you ok?" The medic looked at her.

"No I wasn't in here." Jules shook her head and looked at Greg. "Boss." No answer. "Greg." He opened his eyes and looked at her. She hardly ever called him by his first name, none of them did except Ed. He was either Boss or Sarge to them. She looked at the medic, starting to get frantic.

The medic nodded and said, I'll be right back." He disappeared out the back and appeared again in the doorway after he got the door open. He kneeled on the side of the SUV and stuck his body inside. He was holding a neck brace in his hand. "Sir. Can you hear me?" He asked Greg. Greg's eyes opened and he nodded slightly. "I'm going to put this brace on your neck."

Another ambulance arrived and those medics started assessing Sam and helped the first get Lew out on a backboard through the passenger door. Ed was forced to wait outside the SUV while they worked. It took the medics a few minutes to assess Greg and the help of thee firemen to get him on a backboard and lifted out of the vehicle. During the last part they made Jules climb out.

Jules walked to Ed and they embraced.

A medic climbed back into through the front door of the SUV and put a c-collar on Wordy's neck. They got Wordy loaded on a backboard and out of the vehicle. A third ambulance had been called because there were so many patients.

Sam had a collar on too (which he was very unhappy about) and walked next to Lew, with a medic at his side, following him into the ambulance. That ambulance closed their doors once both patients were inside and left. Greg had already been transported to the hospital after he was extricated from the SUV.

Ed looked back to the house and suddenly wondered where Spike was. Why wasn't he here? He got a very bad feeling in his gut and took off for the house. "Jules!" He yelled.

Jules walked next to Wordy as they loaded him into the ambulance. When she heard Ed yell her name she jumped and whirled around in time to see him in a dead run for the house.

***inside Jules' house right after the crash***

She leaned down and smelled, taking in his manly scent. Good enough to eat. She thought. Stop. Can't waste any time. The crash will distract them for a little while, but they'll come looking for him if he isn't out there soon. She'd given him enough sedative to knock him out long enough for her to get him to their 'love nest' as she called it. It wasn't much, but they could find a nice house once they were married. One that was away from his 'team'. She shook herself to bring her out of her fantasy. She grabbed under Spike's arms then dragged him to the back door. She got him up on his feet, put his arm around her neck and her arm around his middle. He walked but very clumsily. She walked him to the back gate of Jules' yard and into the back seat of her car waiting in the alley. She smirked one last time in the mirror at the flashing lights at the front of the house. This is Team One? Team Five had told me not to bother trying out for Team One if I couldn't even make Team Five. "Now who's the reject?" She drove away slowly and carefully. No tire treads to match. No neighbors alerted by the noise. They were all out front watching the chaos.

***front of Jules' house***

"Spike!" Ed reached the house and yanked open the door. It was all quiet inside. "Spike!" He yelled louder. "Spike! Status!" Ed ran through the whole house, searched every nook and cranny. No Spike. "NO!" He walked back into the living room, grabbed a camera and threw it against a wall where it shattered into tiny pieces. His chest heaving he headed back outside. The rest of the team needs me.

Jules met him on the front lawn. "What's wrong? Where's Spike?" She stopped dead at the look of fear, sadness and panic in Ed's eyes.

"Gone. The bitch got him." Ed ground out. "We gotta get to the hospital. The rest of the team needs us."

"I'm driving." Jules jumped in the driver's seat of their other SUV but thought a second and jumped back out. She took one of their mirrors on a stick and checked the SUV. There was a bomb by the back passenger wheel. The same place as the other SUV. She told the pd officers still on scene to cordon off the area around the truck and have Team Two disable it. Also to have them let Team One know what kind of device it was. Ed and Jules jumped in Jules' Jeep and headed to the hospital.

They waited as patiently as possible in the ER waiting room for word on any of their guys not talking. Sam was the first to walk out. He still had his bracelet on his wrist.

Ed and Jules stood and met him halfway. "You ok?" Ed looked him over and hugged him gently remembering what injuries Sam had told him.

"Yeah. Bruised rib, not broken and a small concussion. Can't be alone tonight, but I told them that was highly unlikely." Sam gave them a lopsided smile. His smile dropped when he looked around and didn't see Spike. "Where's Spike?" His heart plummeted to his stomach at the look on their faces.

"Gone when we got back to the house." Ed shook his head. Dammit! How did this happen?

Jules shook her head sadly.

"What? How?" Sam frowned. He could see both of them were filled with guilt. He took a seat in the plastic waiting room chair next to Jules. Ed sat next to her.

"We ran out after we heard the boom and crash. I told Spike to call it in. He never came out after." Ed explained.

"You left him alone?!" Sam stood up, angry. "After the Boss just said-"

"I know. I couldn't help it. I thought he was right behind us-" Ed's voice raised a level. I already know I screwed up damn it.

"You LEFT him in the house. When you knew someone was after us." Sam couldn't keep his fury and fear contained, his voice level meeting Ed's.

"To help my four other brothers who just got hurt." Ed yelled back. It took two nurses and the threat of making them leave the hospital before Sam and Ed stopped yelling at each other.

A nurse came back into the waiting room a short time later. "Family of Greg Parker?"

"His family is out of town, but we're his SRU team which makes us family." Jules stepped forward.

The nurse scrutinized them, especially the two men she had help separate earlier. She decided to tell them anyway. "We're keeping him overnight. He has a concussion but is otherwise ok. We think he hit his head on his window or door frame. We just want to keep him for observation. Are you also the family of Lewis Hall and Kevin Wordsworth?" Jules nodded. "Kevin is also staying the night for his concussion. He was out for a long time at the scene which is a little worrying. He also had some small lacerations from the broken glass, but nothing major. We're releasing Lewis. He had a minor concussion like Mr. Braddock here, some lacerations from the glass and a dislocated shoulder. He's the only one that will be on light duty for a week so his shoulder can heal. The pain from his shoulder will keep him from doing much. The concussions are nothing to sneeze at. They'll all have headaches, but should be clear headed and able to return to work Monday."

"Thank you so much." Jules smiled, relieved. "Can we see them?"

"We're getting Greg and Kevin moved to their rooms. I'll let you know when they're all settled so you can see them. Short visits though, they need to rest." The nurse nodded then walked back to her station.

A few minutes later, Lew walked out. "Hey." His arm was in a sling, he had butterfly bandages on the small cuts and white pads taped to his neck and cheek for the ones that needed stitches. At the look of sympathy on their faces he said, "it's not as bad as it looks."

"No worries, the ladies like battle scars." Sam smiled. "How you feeling?"

"Like I was in a car accident." Lew joked. "What happened?" His head was a little fuzzy, but the only thing he remembered about the accident was hearing a loud boom and then when Ed was talking to him.

"Small bomb under the rear passenger tire took out the whole axle. We found one on the other SUV. Team Two is taking care of it." Ed answered.

"Damn." He looked down then back up at Ed. "It was her wasn't it." He clenched his jaw. That bitch. She could've killed them!

"Yeah. It was." Ed nodded and looked at Sam who was fuming.

"So-" Lew had just realized Spike was missing. What the hell? Where's Spike? He was just about to ask when the nurse came back.

"You can see them now. We were able to get them in the same room considering they have the same visitors." The nurse interrupted. She beckoned them to follow her. She led them to the third floor med/surg unit where they kept the generally sick that didn't need ICU. She stopped at room 325 and turned to face them again. "Brief. They need to rest." She pinned them each with a look and walked away.

Ed pushed open the door and walked in with Jules, Sam and Lew behind him.

Greg was laying back, his eyes closed with the bed in a reclined position. He looked pale. Wordy's bed was in the same position but his eyes were open. He had several butterfly bandages on the right side of his face and several more of the white gauze over the stitches.

"Hey." Wordy smiled, glad to see his family here. He wished that Shel was here too, but he was fuzzy why she wasn't. He gave them a confused look. Someone else is missing. Who? "Where's, uh, Shel?" He felt like he was under water.

"Out of town. Remember man?" Lew asked. He hated to see Wordy and the Boss like this.

"Uh, yeah." Wordy didn't but he didn't say so. "What happened?"

The four standing exchanged a look. "Bomb by the rear passenger side tire. The SUV flipped. You were out for a while buddy." Sam answered moving to sit in the chair next to Wordy's bed.

"You hurt?" Wordy looked at Sam. "You too?" He looked at Lew. Were they in the SUV? Was everyone hurt?

"Yeah but we're ok." Sam smiled at Wordy. I wish someone would tell that to my ribs. Damn they hurt.

"Boss?" Wordy looked at the man in the bed next to him who had woken up.

"Yeah Word." Greg rubbed his head. "Ohh." Man his head was pounding.

"Need anything Boss?" Ed moved to stand next to Greg's bed.

"Need pain meds." Greg put a hand on head. It felt like it was going to explode. What in the world happened? Something about a bomb he thought he'd heard them say to Wordy.

"Be right back." Ed walked out and spoke to the nurses.

One came in shortly after Ed returned. "Mr. Parker. You still have a headache?" She asked looking in his eyes with a light which made Greg flinch. "I'll talk to the doctor and be right back." She returned a short time later with some migraine meds. She turned to the group watching with interest. "This will probably make him sleepy so five more minutes." She looked over at Wordy and walked to him. "What about you Mr. Wordsworth? Do you have any pain?"

"Uh. No. Little headache, but it'll go away." Wordy was reluctant to take anything that made him feel any more out of it than he already was.

"Ok. Let us know if it gets bad ok?" She nodded.

"Yeah." Wordy felt very sleepy, but he felt like there was a hole. Someone was missing. "Spike?" He said, thinking aloud. The nurse left after hearing his answer.

"Uh, well we-" Ed started but he was too ashamed. He'd gone against orders and left a teammate alone. Now Spike was gone. With the woman who had done this to his family. She would be stopped, he vowed silently.

Jules out a hand on Ed's shoulder and squeezed. It's ok it said. "After the wreck Spike stayed at the house to call the EMS and when Ed went back to see where he was he was gone."

"Gone?" Greg looked at them. Had he heard them right?

"Listen, we'll talk tomorrow. You guys need to rest." Sam stood, gave Ed a meaningful look and tipped his head towards the door. No use getting them riled up. Ed nodded slightly in acknowledgement. Sam turned to look at Jules and Lew. "We'd better go."

Just then the nurse came back in. "Visiting hours are over."

"You guys rest. We'll be back tomorrow." Ed looked at Greg and Wordy then followed the others out after they each said words of encouragement.

Once in the hall Sam said, "no need to upset them now. We'll tell them tomorrow. Tonight we need to go back to the house and try to find any evidence to find out who took Spike and where."

"Should we have guards here?" Lew asked looking at the closed door to their friends' room.

"No. She got what she was after." Ed growled and walked down the hall.


	7. Chapter 7

When Ed, Sam, Lew and Jules returned to her house, the SUV and debris had been removed from the road.

Jules looked down the street, remembering. She shook it off. Everyone was ok and going to be home tomorrow. She tamped down her anger and vowed quietly to herself. "There will be a reckoning. You have my word."

Everyone moved quietly into the house. Jules and Ed took stock of the room, looking for clues. The phone had been dropped on the floor by the front door. The rug behind the couch looked ruffled, like something had been dragged past. The door off the kitchen was closed. Jules went out, surveying the backyard.

Sam looked around the kitchen and Lew checked out the rest of the living room.

Ed followed Jules, closing the door behind him. Sam and Lew hadn't found anything and were relaxing (as best they could) on the couch. "Anything?"

"Looks like the back gate is open." Jules strode forward and walked into the alley between her house and the one next door. Nothing. No black marks on the pavement from someone spinning their tires. No camera back here either. She'd be remedying that soon. She kicked the bottom of the fence in frustration and left a shoe sized dent in the wood. She walked back to where Ed was standing on the concrete patio looking off towards her neighbor on the other side. "It's not your fault." She looked up at him. Then again, she always had to look up when she looked or talked to him.

"Isn't it?" He said after a long pause. "We were ordered to stay together. I should've gone back for him." Ed looked down, his eyes misting over. "If anything happens to him-." He shook his head, trying to rid his mind of those thoughts.

"I was there too you know. I saw my brothers possibly hurt or worse and I ran to them." Jules put a hand over her heart. "I should've stayed with Spike but.." It hurt her heart to think that Spike could be hurt or worse.

"I would've done the same." Sam said. He and Lew had come out when Ed and Jules had been gone for too long. "You can't blame yourselves. She planned it this way. She knew we'd be out the door and gone when one of us was hurt."

"She played us, again." Lew looked at Ed and Jules who still had guilty looks on their faces. He understood. He felt guilty for being unconscious and not with Spike where he should've been.

"Yeah I'm getting sick of these games." Ed looked at Sam, anger filling his eyes. "Let's get back inside."

Once they were all back inside, Jules asked, "well, it's" she looked at her watch, "1430. Who's hungry?"

They ordered sandwiches and ate them ravenously when they arrived.

****somewhere just outside the city****

She couldn't believe she finally had him with her. She was so excited she could barely contain herself. She looked in the rear idea mirror at the man passed out lying across her backseat. Even sleeping he was hot. As she pulled her car in front of the small brick building, her excitement bubbled to the surface and she laughed a throaty, devious laugh. She climbed out of the car and pulled open the passenger door behind hers. She pulled Spike out, being careful to keep him from falling to the ground. She walked him to the door, pausing to unlock it. She pulled him inside to the right past the kitchen table, through another door into a windowless room and put him on the bed. Hmm. Best to keep him semi-mobile. She thought. Of course his SRU training would kick in and he could be quite, troublesome.

Spike could feel his head and it felt like a big cannonball. Heavy, swimming. He thought, where am I? What happened? Wait. Crash. SUV. Bomb! Or something? Was everyone ok? "Status." He mumbled. His head still felt heavy and he tried to sit up. Clang. Nope. Something on my wrist. Wait, what? Was he in the hospital, arrested for something? That can't be right. He laid back, a hand on his head and looked around. One light bulb overhead. No windows. What the hell is going on? "Sam? Lew?" No response. "Ed? Jules? Wordy? Boss? Guys. Status." He put a hand to his ear and realized he didn't have his earpiece in. He sat up. His head clearing. He looked around and finally saw the brunette standing by the door. "What's going on?" He asked her.

"How do you feel?" She was thrilled that he was awake, but cautious. She'd watched training videos of him taking subjects down. He was deadly when he needed to be.

"Groggy. What's going on? Where's my team?" Spike put his un-handcuffed right hand to his head. He sat on the edge of the twin bed. He looked down and realized he wasn't wearing his belt, socks, shoes or chain his parents had given him for Christmas last year.

"That'll clear soon." She smiled brightly at him.

"Where is my team?" He asked again, giving her a determined look.

"Hospital?" She shrugged, put her hands out and then clapped them together again in front of her.

"What?" He stood and pulled on the handcuff but the bed didn't move. He pulled again, surprised it didn't move. He looked down at the floor and saw that the metal bed legs had been secured to the floor with metal L brackets. "You better not have hurt them." He growled looking at her, his brown eyes flashing.

"Oh who cares about them." She waved a dismissive hand. "You're here now. Nothing else matters."

"I care." Spike sat back on the bed, keeping her gaze. He was only going to injure himself trying to pull on the cuffs.

"Are you hungry?" She asked sweetly, hoping the answer was yes. She'd made his favorite meal. Just like his Momma's.

He shrugged, not wanting to hurt her feelings but unsure about eating anything she made.

She turned, walked out and closed the door behind her.

He did a quick assessment of the room. No windows, just the bed in the room. Nothing else. No chair, clock, nothing. Damn. Just one sketchy looking blanket and no pillow on the bed. She's good, he nodded. Nothing he can use as a weapon. The blanket looked like it'd been chewed by a lawn mower with all the holes and ratty edges. He sat back on the bed and waited. Twenty minutes later he could smell what she was cooking. He sat up straight. No way. It couldn't be.

"Aquacotta!" She came in with a wooden bowl filled maybe two inches from the bottom.

"That smells-" He stopped short of giving her a huge compliment.

"Just like your Momma makes!" She stepped closer and handed him the bowl. She was pleased to know what he was thinking. And, she thought, I'm finishing his sentences! She was just out of reach of the cuffs so she held the bowl by the edge. She knew better than to let her guard down around him. Once he took it she stepped back.

"No spoon?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Maybe later." She sided with caution when it came to his hand to hand skills.

"Thank you for the food. I can see you don't mean to cause me harm." Spike tried another tact. He sipped the soup trying to determine if it was drugged. He couldn't taste anything. He finished it in one long slurp and held out the bowl to her.

She stepped forward just close enough that he threw his arm up and tossed the bowl in one motion aiming it at her head. He hoped it would force her to fall forward. Instead it hit her square in the nose, breaking it and the bowl and cutting her under the eye. She stumbled back a step, holding her nose. "You asshole!" She stormed forward like a freight train and before he could react she punched him square in the jaw twice, then the eye once knocking him out.

Spike fell back on the bed, out cold.

"Guess we have to start out playing rough." She pulled his shirt and pants off leaving him in his boxers only. She took the blanket and sheet out from under him and turned to the door. Still pissed he had been able to do that. She stopped at the door, realizing that he was nearly naked. She turned back and looked at him again. She walked to the bed and ran her hand over his chest and down to his stomach. "What nice abs you have." She said running her fingers over the defined stomach. She lightly touched his legs, feeling the muscles. An evil smile played on her lips. She left the room and came back a few minutes later. She had put a few butterfly bandages on the cut under her eye and tissue in her nose. It had already started to give her black circles under her eyes. She approached cautiously even though she'd been watching him in the monitor while she was out of the room. He was still out. She pulled on his feet so he was laying the right way on the bed. She took the rope from her pocket and tied his feet to the bed. She moved to his other arm and used another pair of handcuffs to tie that arm to the solid bed.

"Oh Michaelangelo!" She sing-songed.

Spike had felt her put his other hand in the cuff. Damn! She cold-cocked me! He slowly opened his eyes and moved his jaw to test it. Not broken but man was he dizzy. There were two of her! Is that real? Suddenly, a whip cracked over his head. What the-? He looked at her again, making his eyes focus. Oh shit. She has a bullwhip and a knife.

"I didn't think we'd have to do this so soon my Michaelangelo. Aren't you supposed to try talk first?" She dropped the whip on the ground. She was holding the handle of the knife in one hand and the tip by one finger of the other hand. She walked over. "You know, in China if someone betrayed them, they could make them suffer the punishment of a thousand cuts. Small little cuts for every injustice. Eventually you'd bleed out, but the process was slow and very painful." She knelt next to the bed and at his waist level.

Spike looked at her. His heart was pounding and the adrenaline was flowing. "Look, I'm sorry I threw the bowl at you. It won't happen again."

She lifted the knife. "See that it doesn't."

At first there was silence, but eventually loud feral screams could be heard coming from the little brick building, deep in the woods.

If you scream and there's no one around to hear it, can you still die?


	8. Chapter 8

Ed and Julesw had agreed that everyone would sleep in one room with one keeping watch. It would make security easier. They also agreed to let Sam and Lew sleep, they needed it after the accident with the SUV. They would each take a watch.

Jules wondered if it could really be called an accident, it'd been done intentionally. The damned distraction had worked. She better not be hurting Spike, Jules thought with a shudder. Please let him be ok, she looked out the kitchen window and begged the cosmos. She finished the few dishes and went into the living room to hang with the guys.

Ed and Sam were involved in an intense game of chess while Lew was cleaning his gun.

Jules smiled as she was watching Lew. Damn he's fast! She grabbed her gun and sat down between Sam and Lew on the couch to clean hers. Eventually it ended up as a contest of who could disassemble and reassemble their gun. Lew won five out of seven. Jules begged him to do best of nine until he finally agreed. Lew was only one ahead of her going in, but she still couldn't catch him. "Damn!" She laughed holding her unloaded gun. Her smile dropped as she thought of Spike. He could do this with his eyes closed. He always beat Lew. He was- no. She shook her head. She wouldn't think of him in the past tense. He is still alive.

"It's ok Jules." Lew put a hand on her back. He knew she was thinking about Spike. He had been thinking the same. "He'll be fine." When Ed and Sam stopped to look at him because of his use of the word fine, Lew realized his mistake and said, "I mean he'll be good. We'll make sure of it."

"Damn right." Ed looked from Lew to Jules to Sam. He looked at the clock and realized he hadn't called Halloren yet. "Break time." He looked at Sam. "Gotta call the Commander." Ed stood, went to the kitchen and used the phone to give an update. He went back to them 10 minutes later.

"What'd he say?" Sam asked as Ed sat back down in the lazy boy at the chess table.

"He was pretty upset I didn't call him earlier. We're on days off until, the uh, situation is resolved. He said Team Three is standing by to help us if we need it and I think we may need it. I don't know what kind of shape the Boss and Wordy are going to be in tomorrow." He looked at Lew. "You can't help with that shoulder. No offense."

"None taken. But I'm going with you. Spike will need all of us." Lew nodded. His shoulder hurt like hell, he knew he was sidelined. He understood. He just wasn't going to sit idly by and not help one of his best friends.

"Ok, so what's the plan?" Sam asked.

"Right now, we get some supper and relax. We can't do anything tonight. Tomorrow we pick up the Sarge and Wordy and go from there. Depending on how they feel, we'll meet up with Team Three." Ed said.

They discussed supper options and finally settled on Chinese. While they were waiting for the food, the four of them went upstairs to move the beds into Jules' room. It was the biggest and would allow them to be together as planned.

Suddenly the phone rang. Thinking the worst Jules ran downstairs to the phone. "Hello?" She felt out of breath even though she ran regularly. The others followed her downstairs.

"Jules, it's Greg".

"Hey Sarge." Her gaze flicked to Ed who immediately came to stand beside her. "Are you ok? What's wrong? Is Wordy ok?" Her heart started galloping in fear. Ed put a hand on her upper arm.

"Yeah. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just woke up and I'm feeling much better."

She sighed with relief and mouthed "Woke up. Feeling clearer." To Ed. He sighed through his nose and rolled his eyes. He had been ready to run to hospital if needed. "I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Sorry we weren't there when you woke up."

"Oh that's ok. Listen, when you guys come tomorrow we want you to bring our gear. We need to suit up and get that bitch.

"Ok. Well it depends on what the doctor says, but we can bring it in case he says you're ok to work." She put her hand up and put a stray strand of hair behind her ear, a nervous gesture.

"Ok. Thanks Jules. Is everyone else ok?"

She put the phone by her neck and whispered to Ed, "Status. Spike?" He knew what she meant. "Tomorrow." He whispered back.

"Jules? Are you whispering? What's the status? Tell me now."

"Concussions all around." Jules joked. "Bruised ribs and a dislocated shoulder but nothing serious." She avoided naming names.

"Ok. Good. We'll see you tomorrow. At 0800."

"You got it Boss." She hung up after saying goodnight.

Ed patted her shoulder and blew out a breath. "I'm glad he was able to call, but give us a heart attack." He smiled and shook his head. They returned to Sam and Lew and related the conversation. They hated not telling Greg everything, but he wouldn't rest if he knew Spike was missing.

After supper, Jules took a three hour nap as she was going to take the first watch. Sam and Ed argued about Sam taking a watch shift, but Ed won in the end. He had argued that Sam was in still not 100% and to prove it Ed poked him in the ribs. Sam grudgingly gave up and fell asleep not long after sitting on the couch next to Lew. It didn't take long for Lew to fell asleep too. Ed gave them a 'I told you so' look and sat in the lazy boy to read a book.

When Jules woke up, she helped Ed get Sam and Lew to their beds. They were both hard to wake up so it took some doing to get them up the stairs and in bed. She sat quietly on her bed for about an hour, giving the guys time to fall asleep. She had her gun, but kept it out of sight in her belt holster. She checked the windows, looking around and listening for any sounds. She walked the house, checking that all the windows and doors were secure. Before she went back upstairs, she stopped and listened. She stood in the dark for several minutes perfectly still keeping her breath even, listening for even the smallest sound. Hearing nothing she walked up the stairs. Just as she reached the top, she heard, "Jules" to her right. She jumped, her heart pounding. As she jumped she took action and kicked her leg out, hitting whoever it was in the gut.

"Oof." Sam grabbed his stomach and dropped to the floor.

"Stay down." She commanded and had her knife to his throat.

"Ok, but I need to go the bathroom or you're going to clean up the mess." Sam choked out.

"Sam. What the hell are you doing?" She whispered furiously at him. If their little exchange hadn't woken up Ed or Lew she'd be surprised. She relaxed her muscles and put the knife away.

"Going to the bathroom. And throwing up." He walked downstairs into the bathroom and closed the door. He had intended to use the guest bathroom so he didn't wake Ed and Lew. So much for that!

She stopped and listened. No other sounds reached her except Sam retching. She was waiting when he opened the door.

"Damn. Remind me never to piss you off." Sam rubbed his stomach and climbed the stairs.

She sighed. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah." He laughed. "Go to bed. I've got this." He had reached the top of the stairs and stopped. He put a hand out in an 'after you' gesture towards the closed door to her bedroom.

"Not a chance." She folded her arms across her chest. "Bed soldier. That's an order." She knew from his training that he would automatically obey and used it that way. She was glad they could joke about it now. It'd been very rough for Sam when he first started with Team One. They hadn't been welcoming to him at all and it'd taken almost losing him for them to realize how awful they'd treated him. When they'd nearly lost him, it wasn't just from the team but in the physical sense. They had helped push him to the edge then had to pull him back from the edge. It took several weeks, lots of talking, apologizing and lots of team building before they started to gel as a team and finally as a family.

"Yes ma'am." Sam mock saluted her, turned and marched back into the bedroom. He knew she was joking about the order and it made him glad to have her in his life. Her and the team he reminded himself. He closed the door behind him and smiled. She'd almost taken his head off. Never scare her at night when on alert. Check. He laid down on his bed and rolled over, causing it to squeak.

"I'll put you in the hall if you don't settle down floppy." Ed's soft voice carried in the quiet room.

Sam couldn't help it. He let out a loud laugh.

"Man, I'll never live that down." Lew laughed.

That was it, Sam and Ed were laughing hysterically. In between laughs, Sam would say, "Ow. Stop laughing. Ow!"

Jules opened the door and stood in the doorway, a serious look on her face. This caused more laughter, more 'Ows' and a retelling of what had been said. Jules laughed, shook her head and closed the door on them. More laughter from behind the door. She shook her head and waited several minutes for the laughter to die down. Once it did, she cautiously entered her spare room. She checked the closet, looked out the window for several minutes before turning to do her checks again.

She was doing her tenth tour of the house when Ed stepped out of the bedroom. "My turn." He smiled. He had bags under his eyes and lines of worry around his eyes.

"Did you sleep?" She whispered. She knew the answer but asked anyway.

"A little." He shrugged. "I'm good." He smiled then, one of his warm kind smiles.

"Ed." She dragged out the two syllables in her best motherly voice and gave him a doubtful look.

"Honest Jules." He put his hands up, palms facing her.

"Back to bed. At least until 0300." She stuck her arm out and looked at her watch,

"Are you sure?" He looked at his watch, just turning 0100.

She gave him her 'do as I say' look and waited.

He turned around and went back to bed, softly laughing. Man do not mess with Julianna Callaghan. She could make the toughest man cry like a baby if she wanted to. He felt a surge of brotherly love for the only woman on the team. He couldn't imagine the team without her, she was definitely the heart.

Two hours later, Jules had to shake him to get him to wake up. "Sorry Jules." He sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes until he was awake.

"No problem." She smiled. "You good?"

"Yup." He stood and left the room while Jules crawled in her bed. It took her awhile, but she finally fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

##### WARNING: This chapter may be too intense for some readers. It contains sexual, torture and sub/dom content. If you don't want to read it, you don't have to, just know that Spike goes through a horrible hell at the hands of his captor. ########

##### the brick building #####

After she let him experience his first five cuts, she left him in the room still tied to the bed. She turned on a fan that she had rigged to point cold air at the bed.

At first, Spike had promised himself that he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of hearing his scream. He'd lasted the first couple cuts on his stomach, but when she had pulled his boxers down, pausing to run a finger down his member, and cut the soft flesh in his private area twice he had cried out. Luckily she hadn't cut his member but he didn't doubt she would if she had to. In the dark room he pretended that he was back at home, safe in his bed. That lasted until the fan turned on and he started getting cold. The cuts had stopped bleeding, but they still hurt.

After about an hour of leaving him in there to freeze, she put her coat on and went inside. She could hear his teeth chattering. "Well? Ready to behave?" She threw two blankets on him so he could start to warm up.

"Yes." Spike said through his chattering teeth. If he could feel his hands and feet he would grab her by the throat, throw her in the freezing room and leave her there. Without clothes or blankets.

"Yes what?" She put a finger to her ear. You know what I want.

"M'aam?" He looked at her trying to keep his gaze showing anything but how he felt.

She moved closer. "Mistress." She whispered.

"Yes mistress." He nodded. Play the game, wait for an opportunity to try again.

"Good." She untied his feet. "Now, I don't want to treat you badly, but I think you understand now how this can go for you." It can be so much worse, she thought, looking at his face.

He nodded, watching her. The thick blankets had helped him warm up a little, he had stopped shivering.

She undid one of his hands and watched him. When he put the hand under the blankets she stopped, wary of what he might do. When he threw the blankets off and she saw that he had his hand on his stomach, his hand bloody she relaxed a little. Before she undid his other hand, she turned and grabbed the things she had put on the floor when she came in. She took the cotton, opened a plastic bottle, put the cotton on top and tipped it upside down. She motioned his hand away and softly rubbed the cotton over the cuts.

Spike bucked and sucked in his breath at the pain the alcohol caused the new cuts. She moved to tend to the other cut lower down but he grabbed the cotton from her, reached down in his boxers and cleaned the cuts, gritting his teeth. He handed the cotton back to her with his blood on it.

She felt at war with herself. She didn't want to hurt him and felt bad that she did, but she had gotten a little pleasure from the cuts in his groin. She loved the control she had over him. He will submit to me willingly she thought as she stared at his boxers.

Spike saw her start to stare and laid back on the bed. He put his hand back over his belly, the other at his side. He didn't dare move, but felt a little more secure with his hand on his belly. At last he could try to block her from going there. He thought of his team and willed them to find him before this got worse.

She finally broke out of her reverie when she saw his face. Pure anger and hatred. Not for long. She smiled and stood. She undid his other hand and threw warm clothes at him. Soft sweats, no string and a pullover sweatshirt.

"Thank you mistress." Spike said in supplication.

She stood by the door and put her hand out towards the table "Come, sit."

He noticed that there was a chain by the table. He followed it to it's end at the wall about eight feet away. Someone had sunk an anchor into the brick when it was made and attached the heavy chain to it. At the end of the chain was a wrought iron cuff welded to the chain. Ok, no chance of breaking the chain or the cuff. Maybe the weld. As he got closer he saw that the connection had been fortified with steel and lots of welding. He looked up and realized she was watching him.

"What do you think?" She already knew what he was thinking. No chance to get out of that cuff or break it or the chain.

He shrugged.

She eyed him and ordered him to sit down. Anytime she told him to do something he answered with 'yes mistress'. She was delighted he had fallen into that habit already. When he sat she put the cuff on him and made sure it was tight but not cutting off circulation.

There was more of his favorite soup on the table. This time there was a piece of bread with butter and a glass of water. There were still no utensils.

He was still very hungry and ate quickly, drinking all of the water as well while she sat on the other side of the small table watching him. "More water please Mistress?" He held up the glass. More water and some glass in your face, he thought.

She stood, leaned forward and took the glass from him. "No, you're good. I would say for at least 24 hours." She tipped her head and looked at him.

No answer. His eyes were essentially dead when he looked at her. He had decided that was what she deserved after everything she'd done. He tried not to think of the "so far" that he felt came after that. He would not give her the satisfaction of seeing him suffer. "May I use the bathroom mistress?"

"Yes you may." She was pleased at his manners. She knew from watching him that he had incredibly good manners and was a bit of a Momma's boy. Some of her research had shown that Spike had always been very close to his mother while he and his father did not get along.

She stood and pointed to the toilet by a pole. It was near the brick wall for his chain, but it was definitely out in the open. The rest of the place was basically open too. There was a couch and a TV out in the middle of the room, a fridge, stove and sink in the kitchen area, and every window was boarded up. There was nothing by the windows.

He turned and looked at her. All he could see was delight and anticipation. Either he pulled his pants down and she got a perfect view of his ass, or he tried to pull his pants down and sit as fast as he could giving her the possibility of her seeing his privates. He chose to stand.

"Ooh. Nice ass." She giggled.

He did his best to relax, close his eyes and pretend she wasn't there. After a bit he was finally able to go. He pulled up his pants and turned around. She was a foot from him, and standing off to the side. She had moved so she could see after all. Damn her. He lost all control and charged her, his hands out. She took four steps back before he got to her and watched as the chain snapped his leg back, making him fall to the floor. "You bitch!" He raged from the floor. Gotta get out. Need to get the fuck out of here. Tears started to form in his eyes but he didn't give her the pleasure of seeing them fall. He looked away from her and sat up, hHis back to her. His ankle was throbbing. The chain had pulled on it really hard. It was at least sprained. Dammit. Nice going Scarlotti. Can't run from here with a broken ankle. He chided himself.

"Oh baby. Don't talk that way." She pouted.

"Fuck you! I will never be your baby!" He yelled as he stood, not putting all his weight on his left leg.

She was unhappy that he had hurt himself, but he deserved it. She shrugged, turned around and went to the kitchen counter. She picked up her gun and pointed it at him. "We can just end this now." She shrugged and was deadly serious. "I don't want to hurt you."

Spike stopped and stood there. "What do you want?" He asked, stifling his rage.

"Just you Michaelangelo." She smiled. "That's all I've ever wanted. From the day I first saw you I've loved you. Do you know when that was?"

He'd met her before? Damn. He shook his head. He looked at her again and thought she looked a little familiar but he couldn't place her.

"See? You're so blind you don't even see a good thing when it's right in front of you." She motioned to her body with her free hand, following her curves.

She does have a nice body, he admitted to himself. Nice curves, good sized boobs. She was showing it well in her ruby red cutout dress. The cutouts were at her sides to accentuate her curves, and one over her pushed up boobs.

"I didn't look like this when you saw me though. I was testing for Team Five. You and your Team had come to help with the testing and you walked right by me to Terry DeSoto." She gritted her teeth at the memory. "That blond bimbo. NONE of you acknowledged me. Not even that goody goody Callaghan." She paused when she heard him growl at the mention of Jules' name. "So obviously I didn't make it. Do you know what those bastards from Team Five told me? Don't bother trying to make Team One if you can't even make it on Team Five. I even tried to say hi to you but that blond jerk stepped in front of me with his back to me." Her face flamed with the retelling of that day. How dare they treat her like that?

He nodded. He hobbled back to the table and sat in his chair. Obviously he, Team One and Team Five had gotten under her skin. He did feel bad for that and told her so.

"Too little too late." She pointed the gun at him again. "Anyway, I've been following you ever since. Following your cases, your team. Specifically you. I think we could be awesome together. Perfect actually." She looked away shyly. She turned back to the counter, put the gun on the counter and walked back to the table. He can't marry you if he's dead. Keep it together.

Spike wasn't sure what to do. He stayed sitting, waiting to see what she was going to do. She nodded her head as if she had made a decision. Oh shit. He thought, waiting.

"Come here." She motioned him forward.

He stood and walked lamely to the end of the chain six inches from his seat and stood three feet from her.

"If you move at all I will give you ten cuts." She looked in his eye, deadly serious. "Not anywhere you would like." She looked down and back into his eyes. She could see he understood completely. She moved forward, a foot from him now. Spike stood perfectly still. "Close your eyes." She whispered.

Spike looked at her warily, but did as she asked. The promise of ten cuts in his groin was a great motivator. He knew she meant business and wouldn't think twice about shooting him. It took him by surprise when her lips softly touched his. He kept his hands down, trying to control his response. She moved her lips more firmly over his and forced his mouth open with her tongue. She put one hand on his neck and the other on his shoulder. She probed his mouth with her tongue but gave up when he didn't respond. She pulled back and looked at him with a sly smile. "Damn." She waved a hand in her face. "You got me hot." She stepped forward and pressed her breasts against his chest. When he didn't respond, in any part of his body, he saw the rage fill her eyes. Before he could step back from her she twisted sideways and punched him in the stomach twice, doubling him over. He fell to the floor clutching his stomach and closed his eyes. She walked to the counter trying to calm herself.

He tried not to, but he vomited all over the floor. There was no way he could sit up, not even to make it the five feet to the toilet. He knew she was coming back with the gun, but he didn't care. Just kill me now. He felt the familiar prick of the needle and fell into the dark oblivion seconds later.

Damn him. He WILL respond! She'll make him. She unhooked the cuff from his leg, grabbed his arms and dragged him back into the bedroom. She put her arms under his and lifted him into the bed. She'd only given him a small dose so he'd wake in an hour or so.

Spike's eyes flitted open. All four limbs were shackled to the bed again. Why didn't she kill me? God his stomach hurt, everything hurt. That chick packs a wallop! When she appeared in his room again he looked at the ceiling.

"Oh so you're above it all are you?" She sneered. She sat on top of him, her bottom just above his genitals. She leaned over and said in his ear, "while you were out I watched the tape of us kissing and I got off on it. Thanks for that." She pulled back and looked in his face. She could see his disgust and loved it. She reached into a pocket in her dress and pulled out a small box of matches. "Let's play a game," she lit a match, smiled maliciously and dropped it on his chest. Spike screamed when it touched his skin and writhed, nearly throwing her off. "Easy." She squeezed her thighs and wiggled her butt on his already sore stomach. That made him stop. "Let's see. How long, do you think, until you pass out?" She lit another one and dropped it.


	10. Chapter 10

Lew was the first one up. He made sure to alert Ed when he left the room so he didn't get kicked in the stomach. Jules and Sam followed shortly. They got through their workout and showers before gathering in the living room.

The laptop on the coffee table started beeping. Lew pulled it to him and started typing. "Spike you are a genius!" He looked at the screen and smiled. "Guys. Spike was running some kind of tracing program on the camera signals and it just found the source!"

"Oh thank you Spike!" Sam stood and looked at the screen, putting a hand on Lew's good shoulder.

"All right team, suit up! We need to get to the hospital right now." Ed stood and ran up to the room he he had his stuff in.

Sam and Jules followed while Lew waited. There was no way he could put on his gear with his shoulder. He had put on his SRU button down shirt with Sam's help, and knew that would be all he needed. While he waited he thought about Spike and hoped that he was ok. He worried for his friend.

Greg and Wordy were already dressed and waiting when Sam, Lew, Jules and Ed arrived at the hospital.

"Hey." Jules smiled at them both. "How're you feeling?"

"Good." Greg smiled but it dropped when Sam pulled the door shut behind him. "Where's Spike?"

"I'm sorry Boss. It was my fault." Ed looked down and shook his head. He put his hands on his hips. "When the accident happened I ran out of the house and told Spike to call EMS. I, I thought he'd be right behind me."

"I ran out too." Jules eyes filled. "I'm so sorry Boss. I should've stayed with him."

"Where is he?" Greg demanded.

"She has him." Jules answered sadly.

Greg tamped his emotions down for a second and looked at Ed and Jules. They obviously felt very guilty that Spike had been taken and were blaming themselves. He took a breath and said, "She caused the accident. She knew what we would do and used it to her advantage. SHE did this." He looked Jules in the eye, then caught Ed's eye. "We'll get him back."

"Copy that." They said at once.

"Wordy? You ok?" Sam could see Wordy struggling with his emotions.

"This ends today." Wordy ground out. "Where's my gear?" Sam held it up and walked over to hand it to Wordy.

"How you feeling?" Sam asked.

"Good. Still got a bit of a headache, but nothing I can't handle." Wordy stood and started putting on his gear.

Jules stepped out of the room while they got dressed.

The doctor and Jules walked in at together. "How are you feeling Sergeant Parker?"

"Good Doc. Ready to go."

The Doctor walked to him and did a quick exam. Nodding he said, "ok you're good to go. But try to take it easy for a day or two." He knew from what Jules had explained of the situation that that may not be possible, but he said it anyway. He moved to Wordy's side. "And you Constable?"

"Just a little headache."

The Doctor shined the light in Wordy's eyes. "Ok, same for you. Try to rest for a few days." He patted Wordy on the back before he left. "Good luck. I hope your officer is ok."

"Thanks Doc." Sam smiled at him as he left.

"Spike was running a trace on the camera signals and this morning it found the source. It's in the woods outside the city.

"Let's go." Greg stood and walked out of the room, followed by his team.

****Woods outside the city****

"Good morning." She walked into his room and flicked on the light.

Spike cringed at the sudden light and twisted his body forgetting that he was still tied to the bed. He sucked in his breath when the twist pulled on the burnt skin on his torso.

"Shhh. Michaelangelo. It's ok." She went to him and kissed his cheek, running her hand through his hair.

He stilled and waited. He looked at the ceiling focusing on the rafter.

"Aww. Spikey doesn't wanna play this morning?"

He looked at her. That was the first time she had used his nickname. "No." He said finding his voice. "No more games." He relaxed his body and stayed very still.

"Hmmph." She was disappointed. He'd given in already? No way. She'd just begun to break him. Just like she'd been broken. But, once he was broken they could be together. He wouldn't resist her and they could live happily ever after. He'd be the perfect obedient husband. She smiled. She brought her other hand from behind her back and put the taser by his face, the electricity racing between the metal tips in blue arcs.

"Why?" He looked at her seeing madness reflected in her sky blue eyes.

"Because I said so." She grunted and thrust the taser to his side. His body arced with the jolt and he screamed. She pulled back and hit him again, eliciting more screams.

Suddenly alarms started going off in the other room. "Shit! Shit shit." She ran from the room.

Once she had gone, Spike let the tears slip from his eyes.

****outside a small brick building in the woods****

The SUVs pulled to a stop outside a small brick building.

"This is it." Lew said into his headset, Spike's laptop on his lap.

They piled out of the SUVs and went to the back.

"Ed." Greg said.

"Right. Sam, go to the trees, see if you can find a Sierra shot and do some recon on the building. See what kind of entry possibilities we have. Wordy and Lew, you're with me on entry." Ed commanded.

"Jules, see if you can get a floor plan." Greg said. He stood at the front of the building, his fear for Spike rising to the surface. This may get messy. "Team, I know it's one of our own in there, but we need to stay objective here." He received five copy that's in response.

****inside the brick building****

"Well." She turned off the proximity alarms and looked at the monitor for the camera pointed at the front of the building. She turned in a fury and stalked back to Spike. She undid his feet and one of the cuffs. She looked at him, still holding his arm. "No more games. Do what you're told." He nodded stiffly. "Good." She undid the other cuff and grabbed his arm, hard. She didn't have time to wait for him to put his clothes back on. She roughly dressed him while he sat and stood when she told him. "Go to the table." She pointed out of the room.

Spike walked ahead of her and looked at the chair he sat in last night, the heavy chain waiting by the leg. "May I go the bathroom mistress?"

"Yeah go ahead." She looked away and at the monitor. She watched his team gear up.

Her demeanor has changed. Spike watched her for a second before he walked to the toilet. She's angry, impatient, something's up. After he was done he looked towards the back of the room and saw another door. With a quick glance to make sure she was not watching, he silently moved towards the door. Oh god he hurt everywhere. Dropping lit matches hadn't been enough for her. She gave him 10 more little cuts on his legs. He reached the back door but the knob wouldn't turn. In desperation he launched himself against it to try to break it open.

Hearing the noise she turned. "No!" She grabbed the taser from the table and ran to him.

Spike was still trying to throw himself against the door when she approached and tased him until he passed out. He screamed in agony and fell to the floor.


	11. Chapter 11

They all stopped when they heard Spike's scream.

"We need eyes!" Greg yelled into his headset. He looked anxiously at the small brick building in front of him.

"Almost there!" Sam Braddock answered as he raced to the back of the building, keeping low among the trees. He held his tech bag in his hands as he ran, his legs crouched. There was only a ten foot gap between the trees and the building. He stopped, looked at the boarded windows, and moved forward, crouching low. He covered the ten feet quickly and sat on his butt next to a door, above him a window.

The building is an old utilities building that was abandoned after the power company found a larger building for their growing business. There are a few windows and the ones that exist were boarded shut long ago to keep out squatters. Once it had been abandoned, it was essentially left to the forest to reclaim. The city started growing miles away and it was forgotten.

Team One stood watch over the front door of the building. All of them anxious to get inside.

Sam took out a scope, a small camera mounted at the end of a flexible metal tube and attempted to feed it under the door. "The door's blocked. Finding another way." Sam whispered. His heart pounded and he struggled to get his emotions under control.

"Copy." Greg answered.

Sam turned his head sideways and up to check the window. He moved into a squatting position so he could see better. "Looks like there's a small opening in the bottom of the wood planks and a break in the window in the same corner. Stand by."

At that momentbWordyappeared from the tree line and ran to Sam, keeping low. "Do you think we can get a mic through there too?" Wordy dropped to his butt next to Sam, under the window and close to the other edge of the building.

"Maybe-" Sam was drowned out by shouting from inside, most of it was a female. He looked at Wordy panicked.

"Boss." Ed projected an enormous amount of agitation, fear and anger with that one word.

"I know Eddie." Greg answered tensely. "Sam!"

Wordy pulled the communicator from his ear and handed it to Sam. Sam pulled tape from his bag and taped the earpiece to the end of the scope. He fed it behind the boards then stretched his head up so he could see the hole in the window.

***inside****

She dragged Spike across the floor and pushed him into the chair. His head lolled back. She ran into his bedroom and grabbed the rope. She tied him securely to the chair (she made sure) then slapped him hard across the face.

Spike jolted awake. He looked at her, then at the video monitors behind her. They're here. Oh shit. No they can't see me like this. He looked at at her terrified. For once looking to her for protection.

"Yes. They're precious team running to your rescue." She looked into his eyes, seeing the panic and pain. "You don't want them to rescue you do you?" She smiled. "Tell them they can stand down and we can go about our business."

Our business. Spike looked at the bedroom. He was so conflicted he couldn't figure out what he wanted. "They'll come in and kill you if they have to." He said finally. The lesser of two evils is out of here. I want out.

****outside****

"I don't CARE what they do!" The brunette screamed in Spike's face. "They will never ever keep me from you."

Jules gasped as the image of Spike beaten and tied to a chair played on her monitor. "Boss! I have the floor plan and video is up."

When Greg, Ed and Lew stepped into the truck they found Jules with tears in her eyes. They looked at her and moved forward as one to comfort her. They stopped when they saw the screen.

She quickly wiped her eyes and said, "the subject has the hostage in what looks like a kitchen area at the front part of the building." She pointed to the schematic. There really wasn't much to the inside. There were a few a walls, but not much else.

Greg put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. It's ok. We're here and we'll get him out. "Is there a phone in there?" Jules shook her head. "Ok, let's get a go phone in there." He stepped out of the truck. "Sam."

"No joy but I think we can pry the bottom board off and get a sight line." Sam took a ragged breath and sat back on his butt.

"Do it. Quickly and quietly."

"Copy." Sam answered. He looked at Wordy and they both went to their knees. Wordy pulled a small pry bar from his bag and they started slowly and quietly pulling the bottom board off.

"Let's get the phone in there." Greg ordered. He walked back outside followed by Jules and Ed. They left Lew in the truck to watch the video feed.

Ed and Greg covered Jules with shields while she pried two boards off the front window and slid the phone through the hole. They backtracked the way they came.

Greg called the phone. Someone picked up and he could hear her ragged breathing. "Hi this is Greg Parker-"

"I know who you are." She interrupted. Her voice was dripping with venom. "And I know what you want." She walked to Spike, still in the chair. She picked up the bullwhip from the table. "And YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM." With each word she struck Spike in the leg, some of the leather strips coming close to his privates. He cried out with every hit.

"Dammit she's hurting him." Ed could hear her and Spike through Greg's headset. He took a breath, but it didn't help his rage. "We go in NOW."

Greg put the phone down by his side. "Eddie, hold. Sam."

Sam and Wordy had gotten the bottom two boards off the window . Sam had his rifle pointed at the woman's head and was sniper breathing but it didn't keep him from looking away when he saw the woman using the bullwhip on Spike. What made it worse was the look on Spike's face when he looked pleadingly at her. He'd obviously been beaten and who knew what else. "I have the solution."

"If she lifts that whip or anything else up.." Ed said angrily.

"Copy." Sam changed position slightly, settling in.

"Ma'am." Greg said into the phone. "Listen. We need to know if the man in there is ok. It sounds like he's in distress." He didn't want to say Spike's name, maybe it would bring her back to yellow if it wasn't so personal to her.

"No, he's fine." She said calmly. She put a hand on Spike's head and put the phone to his ear. "Tell them you're fine."

"I'm fine." Spike repeated.

"We're coming buddy." Greg changed his tone.

"No, you're going to leave or-" she picked up the knife.

"Knife!" Lew and Sam said together. Lew grabbed his rifle and ran out of the truck. He stopped next to Ed, Jules and Greg. Ed ran to the truck and watched the monitors. He knew someone would have to and understood why Lew had left his post.

"Things are going to get messy for Michelangelo." She grabbed his hair with one hand and moved to put the knife to his neck.

"Scorpio." Ed yelled when he saw the woman's action.

Sam squeezed at the same time as the order was called. He watched the woman fall to the floor. "Subject down." He watched as Spike leaned forward in his chair. At first he was silent, then he released an animalistic scream and let his head fall forward crying.


	12. Chapter 12

Sam stepped back, "subject neutralized." He took a breath and rammed his shoulder against the door. It took another hard hit and Wordy's shoulder before it broke open. He ran to Spike and dropped in front of him.

The team had heard Sam's all clear and grunts of effort and entered in the front. Behind them EMS was arriving. Jules and Lew made sure the subject was indeed dead then stood by. Ed and Greg stood near the doorway where Wordy joined them. They didn't want to overwhelm Spike and per protocol they weren't allowed to speak to Sam, the subject officer.

"Spike." Sam wasn't sure if he should touch Spike or not so he sat in front of him on his knees. He knew from personal experience that something like this would have to be handled delicately. He looked back at the team and motioned for them to step out. Greg put up one finger telling him that one person would have to stay with the body per protocol. Sam nodded and motioned to Lew.

Lew nodded and moved to stand by the body but with his back to Spike. He couldn't keep the concern from his face.

Spike knew that they were there, but he couldn't stop the tears. He didn't want them to see him so weak so he kept his head down. He was so ashamed to be found like this. So ashamed that he let this happen.

"Spike." Sam said gently. He tried to look in Spike's eyes, but he wouldn't lift his head. "Listen, I need to get you untied so EMS can check you out."

"I'm fine." Spike kept his head low. He would not let Sam see his shame. He stopped crying, but left his head hanging down.

Sam looked at him, over to Lew who had turned to look at Spike then back to Spike. Shit. Fine was not good. Especially if it was F.I.N.E, Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional. Sam had told the team about the acronym he and his JTF2 buddies had made up to describe their breaking point. After a tough mission, or mission after mission like Sam experienced, they would come back feeling so lost. They didn't know if they could come back from it. Or if they even wanted to come back. He had to bring Spike back. "I'm right here Spike. I won't let you go. You're safe now."

Safe? There's no such thing as safe! Spike shook his head. The woman had proved that.

"Ok. I'm going to undo the ropes. I'll tell you everything I'm doing so there are no surprises." No answer. "Ok I'm going behind you to get the knots." Sam slid to the back of the chair. It took him a little bit to get the knots undone. He had thought about using his knife, but he didn't want to freak Spike out. "Ok, I got the knots undone. I'm going to start unwinding it from around your hands, then I'll get it off your legs."

"Just leave me here." Spike whispered. He couldn't face anyone, didn't want to. When they found out what she'd done to him, the shame would be unbearable. He couldn't stand to see it in their eyes.

"What?" Sam leaned forward so his head was next to Spike's torso.

"Please. Just leave me. I- I can't." Spike looked away.

"You're safe now, Michelangelo." Sam thought maybe using his real name would help. Wrong.

"No no no no. Don't call me that! No. She." Spike started to pull on his hands, desperate to be free. The pulling caused the broken and burned skin on his chest and stomach to pull apart and start to bleed. "Aaaagh." Spike cried out.

Lew moved to the other side of Spike and put a hand on his arm. "Spike! Easy! Stop. You're making yourself bleed." Lew had hoped that touching his arm would be ok. It seemed to work because Spike quieted.

Sam got the ropes off and could see the blood running down Spike's chest. He hadn't really looked at Spike's body. He'd been concentrating on Spike's face. The blackened spots on his chest and torso looked awful. There were also cuts everywhere it seemed. On his stomach, chest and legs. She hadn't cared whether the burns and cuts overlapped. Damn! "Hold on." Sam stood and motioned Lew to follow him. Sam spoke in a quiet voice into his headset. A few minutes later Greg went in and handed Sam a pair of sweatpants and a blanket from EMS.

Spike just sat in the chair. He didn't care whether he was tied or free to walk out of this hellhole. He couldn't think or feel. All he could see was the big black hole he had fallen in.

"Ok Spike." Sam went to the kitchen and grabbed some paper towels off of the roll on the counter. He moved back in front of Spike, still on his knees and put the paper towels to Spike's chest. "You're shivering. We need to get these warm sweatpants on you." A slight nod. "First you need to hold these on your chest and stomach to stop the bleeding. Now I'll get the sweatpants on your legs, then I'll help you stand and we'll get them all the way up." Sam moved slow with this part. He got the sweatpants up over Spike's legs but not without Spike taking a quick intake of breath at the pain of the fabric being pulled over his cuts. He helped Spike stand and pulled the sweatpants up to his waist. Spike jerked away when it was pulled over his groin and nearly fell. "I gotcha." Sam had one arm under Spike's arms and the other pulled up the sweatpants. When he had Spike back in the chair, He looked over his shoulder and Lew stepped closer and handed Sam the blanket. Sam took it and put it around Spike's shoulders.

Spike felt bad that he'd jerked away from Sam, causing him to almost fall from Sam's grasp. He should've just gone to the floor. Just lie on the floor and never get up. Let this place consume him whole. It already had pieces of him. He shook his head.

"Spike. What do you need?" Sam asked him gently. His heart was breaking at the dead look in Spike's eyes. He wasn't here. The light had gone, there was nothing but darkness. I understand. Oh Spike. You don't know how much I understand.

"Out." Was all Spike could muster.

"Ok. I'll get EMS in here." He pushed the button on his comm, making sure Spike knew no one else was listening. He had to press the button for anyone to hear him or him them. "Boss, send in the EMS."

The medics came in and after a few minutes, got Spike to lay on the gurney. "I'm going to start a IV ok Mr. Scarlotti?" The medic had been instructed by Sam to be extra gentle and tell Spike what they were doing. They had understood. They told Spike first, then they lifted the gurney to it's full height. They had put some white gauze on the burns that had broken open, and now covered him with a blanket.

Spike reached out and grabbed Sam's arm, a panicked look on his face. It was time for him to face the world, his family, and he didn't know if he could. A tear slipped down his cheek.

"I've got you." Sam looked into Spike's eyes, reassuring him. Sam understood. He knew Spike didn't want to see anyone or for them to see him. It hurt too much right now. "Look at me. I'll be by your side." When they pushed Spike out on the gurney, Spike kept his eyes focused on Sam.

Lew followed them out, feeling helpless. He didn't want to intrude, but he felt a little jealous that Spike had reached for Sam before him. What the hell is wrong with me, he thought. Sam told us about the month he'd spent at captured and tortured by terrorists. If anyone understood what Spike had gone through and felt now, it would be Sam.

The others watched Spike come out for a moment, wanting some kind of sign that they hadn't lost him. After they saw that he was breathing and alive they looked away. The panic and fear on Spike's face told them he needed a little privacy. They knew it was bad. They'd seen him sitting in the chair in his boxers, black marks and cuts all over him. One of his eyes was black. He was in rough shape.

In the ambulance, Spike had started to freak out when the medic kept asking him questions about what happened. Sam had been able to keep him calm, talking in a low, soothing tone. Sam made sure to tell Spike that he couldn't go into his ER room with him. "They need to take care of you, but I'll be waiting for you. I'm not going anywhere." Spike had nodded, scared to be alone.

They backed into the bay and the EMTs rolled Spike into the ER. Sam took a seat in the waiting room. He was very anxious about not being with Spike. He couldn't sit still. He started pacing. After a few minutes, he heard Spike screaming bloody murder and people yelling at him to stop and calm down.

Sam ran into the ER, not caring that he wasn't supposed to be there right now. He followed the screams and pulled back the curtain. Spike was flailing and screaming "NO! DON'T TOUCH ME! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU BITCH!" Several nurses and an orderly were trying to hold him down. The doctor was still yelling for a sedative. "Spike!" He grabbed one of Spike's flailing arms. "It's Sam! It's ok! I'm right here." Spike noticeably calmed although he was still trying to kick the nurses and orderly off his legs. "What happened?" Sam moved to Spike's head and stood facing the head of the bed so they could see only each other.

"She- she tried to cut off my boxers." A tear escaped from his eye. "I can't." He shook his head and sniffed, looking at the ceiling. "I." He picked up one of his arms and put it across his eyes.

Sam turned to the nurses. "Do you have to take his boxers off?"

One of the nurses motioned for Sam to talk to her outside the curtain. Once he assured Spike he'd be just five feet away and come back, Sam stepped away.

"We need to fully examine him. He's complained of pain in that area." The nurse explained looking back at Spike. "He's really been traumatized. The doctor mentioned giving him a sedative so we could examine him. He's been upset and combative since they brought him in."

"That may be the best for him." Sam looked back at Spike who had not moved. All of the nurses, orderly and the doctor were keeping back from him for now. "Can I be with him until he falls asleep?" Sam looked at her.

"Are you family?"

"Yes. We're SRU. Team One." He looked at her seriously. "He's like a brother to all of us."

"Ok. Let me talk to the doctor." She motioned for him to wait. She came back a minute later and told him it was ok.

Sam walked back at stood by Spike's headline he had before. He took Spike's hand and said, "I'm here buddy. I won't let you go." He nodded to the doctor who pushed the sedative. It didn't take long before Spike was finally sleeping. Sam let go of Spike's hand, put his hand on Spike's head and said, "don't let go." He walked to the waiting room, tears in his eyes. He saw the team waiting in the ER waiting room and walked past them. He knew they wanted an update, but he needed a minute. He walked to the metal handrail for the handicapped entry and grabbed the top rail. He gripped it hard, pulled, growled and yelled at the ground, letting out some of his anger. Tears fell down his cheeks. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost Spike. No, can't think that way. We'll get him through this. Oh god I hope we can. He moved forward so he could lean over with his arms on the handrail. He looked off into space.

"How you holding up?" Greg walked out the doors and stood next to Sam.

"Get the short straw?" Sam scoffed.

"Uh," Greg looked back at the team sitting in the waiting room. "Sort of." He winked. "You looked like you needed a minute."

"I'm ok. I'm. This is-." Sam couldn't quite put it in words.

"Seems very familiar, doesn't it?" Greg knew that was part of it.

"Too familiar." Sam answered and tipped his head back to look that the stars. He thought for a minute before he tipped his head down and said, "this is bad Boss. She physically and mentally tortured him for most of the time she had him." He shook his head. His memories mixing with the ones from just a few hours ago. "We have to help him. Whatever it takes." He looked Greg in the eye. "I'm not going anywhere. SIU is going to have to wait. Spike is more important right now. I promised I wouldn't leave him."

"Understood." Greg nodded. "I already talked to SIU. They're coming here to interview you tomorrow morning. Halloren and SIU understand and are willing to help us out. But, you can't talk to anyone about the shooting. I gave them my word."

"Copy that." Sam nodded. "Not really interested in talking about it anyway." Greg nodded in understanding.

They walked back into the waiting room together. Sam told them about Spike freaking out and having to be sedated.

None of them could understand the events of the past four days. It all seemed surreal now. They were all grateful to have found Spike alive, but wondered and worried if Spike was grateful.


	13. Chapter 13

The same nurse that spoke with Sam entered the waiting room. Six anxious faces looked ather. "Family of Michelangelo Scarlotti?" She asked. Six people nodded.

"I called his parents but they weren't home. I left a message." Lew offered.

"And just a word of advice, don't call him Michelangelo. You can call him Spike." Sam told her.

"Ok." She nodded. "Spike has some significant burns to his chest and torso. They're some small spots and a couple big are 15 of them so there's a risk of infection as you would have with any burn victim." She took a breath. "He also had a bunch of small cuts in the same area adding to the danger of infection. Most of them weren't deep, but we did have to stitch a couple deep ones. One in the-" She looked at Sam, "groin area. We did an ultrasound of his stomach because he was complaining of pain there but didn't find anything. He said he was punched and tasered there. We'll do a CT to make sure and then move him to a room in the burn unit. We're keeping him sedated for now because of the burns, but once we get him settled I'll bring you to the waiting room." Sam stepped forward. Without saying word she knew what he wanted. She put a hand up. "I promise I'll come get you."

Sam nodded. He knew they needed to do what they had to, but it cut at his sense of honor to not be able to be where he promised.

"He's sedated." Jules turned him to her and hugged him. "We'll be there when he wakes up." I hope he can handle this, she thought. This is like déjà vu for him. It may be too close to what he suffered.

Sam pulled her even closer putting his face in her neck. Her warm embrace gave him the strength that he needed. How did she do that? Just a hug and I feel like I can handle anything.

Ed moved forward and embraced them both, adding to and gathering their strength.

Greg half-smiled and moved forward to join them. He was on one side of Jules and Sam while Ed was hugging them from the other.

Lew moved forward, put one arm across Ed's shoulders and the other across Sam's and put his hand on Greg's shoulder.

Not wanting to be left out, Wordy joined the circle. When he did, it was a little harder than he meant to. It rocked the group making Jules let out a whoop of surprise and causing them all to laugh.

"Where's Mikey? Is he ok?" Mrs. Scarlotti watched them break apart. They're laughing, must be he's ok she thought.

"Oh. Hi Mrs. Scarlotti." Greg stepped forward and shook her hand. "They're doing some tests, but then they're going to move him into a room."

"What happened?" She asked, sinking into one of the chairs.

Greg was unsure how much to tell her. She's his mother, she should know, he decided. Greg told her about the woman messing with the team and then kidnapping Spike yesterday after the accident. He explained about Spike's injuries and told her that it's going to be tough for Spike while he deals with this.

She nodded, understanding. Suddenly she put her hands to her face and started to cry.

Greg put his arm on her back, then moved it to her shoulder and pulled her to him for a hug.

"Please don't worry." Lew had moved to squat in front of her and took her hands. "We'll be with him and will do whatever he needs to help him through this."

Wordy sat on the other side of her and put a hand on her back. Jules had moved to stand beside him and Sam was next to Greg.

Maria Scarlotti looked up at them, seeing now why Mikey thought so much of them. He'd told her many times that they were like brothers and a sister to him. She could see now why. "Thank you all so much. It's been so hard with Vito sick and in and out of the hospital. I came down as soon as Vito's nurse told me Mikey was here."

"Your husband has been sick?" Wordy furrowed his brow. For how long? Why hadn't Spike said anything.

"Yes." Maria nodded. With her Italian accent, it sounded more like 'jess'. "About three months. He just started chemo is month."

"I'm sorry." Lew stood and hung his head. Why hadn't Spike said anything? He looked to the others. No they didn't know either. "Is there anything we can do?"

Maria shook her head. "Vito will be able to go home tomorrow. He had a bad reaction to the chemo once so they keep him overnight for observation." She explained.

Sam nodded. "Let us know if you need anything. Anything at all."

Maria stood and hugged Sam. "Thank you." Then settled back into her chair.

They sat waiting and talking about little things, trying to keep themselves occupied.

Finally, after an hour and a half, the nurse appeared and led them to the burn unit waiting area on the fourth floor. "Two of you may go in at a time, but keep it brief. He's still sleeping off the sedation, but we have him on morphine for the pain." You'll need to put a gown, gloves and mask on before going in. We need to prevent infection as much as possible.

Maria went in first. Sam wanted to go in so badly, but he knew Spike's mom needed to be with her son. After about an hour, she came out with tears in her eyes. Greg hugged her and rubbed her back. "He's awake," was all she could choke out. She didn't tell them that Spike hadn't wanted her to stay and finally kicked her out after she pleaded for him to quit the SRU, tThat this was all too much.

Sam suited up and went in. He told the others that he wanted to go in by himself first. They understood. He walked to the bed and sat in the chair. Spike wouldn't look at him. His face was set in tired resolve. "Hey Spike." He took Spike's hand, but Spike pulled away and put it behind his head. "We don't have to talk if you don't want to, but just know that I'm here."

Spike blinked and worked his jaw. No he can't be here. He can't see me like this. He put his hand over his eyes and started to sob. Dammit. He can't know how this feels. He would've turned on his side away from Sam, but he hurt everywhere and movement didn't help. They told him that they had had to scrub the dead skin away from his burns and then put a salve and bandages on after. He felt like they'd used a Brillo pad. "Please." He begged. He wasn't sure for what.

"What do you need?" Sam looked at Spike's covered face.

"Go."

"Nope."

"Sam."

"Spike."

Spike finally dropped his hand and looked directly at Sam, his face full of rage. "Get out."

"Can't."

"Dammit Sam." Spike looked away. "GET OUUUUUT!" He yelled sitting up and looking back at Sam.

"Spike." Sam did his best to remain calm. "You can kick your mom out, but you can't get rid of me so easily."

"GOD DAMMIT SAM. GET OUT!" Spike was screaming now, his heart monitor beeping wildly.

The nurse suited up in lightning time and ran into the room. When she saw the handsome blond man yelling at her patient and her patient screaming back she got between them.

Lew had suited up as quickly as the nurse and ran into the room.

When Spike saw Lew he crumpled back to the bed. "No no no no no." His chest was heaving. "Please." He looked away. "I, I can't"

Lew understood. Spike wasn't ready to see anyone, knowing they would want to talk about what happened. Or at least to know if he was ok, which he was obviously not.

The nurse gave Sam a hard glare, then turned and gave Spike another dose of sedative.

Lew grabbed Sam by the loop on the back of his vest, then an arm when Sam turned and pulled him from the room.

In the hall, Sam yanked his arm from Lew's grasp. He stood there seething, trying to get himself under control. They walked to the waiting room.

Ed approached Sam and asked, "what happened?"

"I don't know." Sam relayed what Spike had done and said while he was in there. "He's," he looked at them all, "fine."

"Then we can't leave him alone." Ed nodded, understanding Sam meant F.I.N.E.

"They just sedated him again." Sam looked back in the direction of the room.

"Ok so we wait." Jules sat back in her seat. "We'll be here when he wakes and give him whatever help he needs."

They all nodded.

"Sam." Lew pulled him aside. "You of all people know what he's been through."

Sam nodded. He did. He spent a month the hand of terrorists. Torture, starvation, water deprivation except for the daily water boarding. Humiliation. He had suffered it all and had barely been able to come back from it. His team only knew some of what he'd suffered and not just when he was captured.

"But you're exhausted. You can barely stand." Lew could see Sam wavering. This was affecting him big time.

Sam shook his head, anger in his eyes. "I told him-" he put an arm up and pointed back at the room.

Wordy stood and joined them. He put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "You don't have to shoulder it all." He looked at Sam. He was grateful that Sam wanted to be the one to help Spike because of his background, but he had backup. They could all help carry Spike through. He looked at Lew and lifted his chin towards Spike's room. "Go. But listen, you can't let him get riled up like that. It won't help him." Lew nodded in acknowledgement. "Let him come to you. When he's ready you'll know."

"Copy." Lew suited back up and went into the room. Time to lend my shoulders, he thought.

Spike was quiet on the bed now. He was laid back fully and gently breathing.

Lew sat in the big chair under the TV. He looked at his watch, 0130. He put his head back and was sound asleep before he realized it.


	14. Chapter 14

Spike opened his eyes. He was in the forest. It was a beautiful summer day. The sun filtered through the leafy canopy making polka dots on the dirt and vegetation. It's so beautiful, he thought. He looked around and put his hand up to shield his eyes. He could see the city in the distance, but there was smoke rising against the blue sky. Something's wrong. He could hear the sirens in the distance. "Boss? What's the situation?" He suddenly realized he had an earpiece in. "You." Was the answer. "What do you mean?" Suddenly Greg was standing in front of him and pointing at his lower half. "Did you forget how to dress?" Now Wordy, Jules, Lew and Ed were standing beside Greg laughing and pointing. Spike looked down and realized he was in his boxers, the earpiece gone. There was blood on the boxers. How did he get in his boxers? He heard her sultry laugh on the wind. He looked up and he was in the brick building looking out the door. Sam was standing outside looking in at him and shaking his head. "We can't wait forever for you to come out." Suddenly he was in the bed, four limbs tied. "They don't care." She cooed from the shadows. "Look how long it took them to find you. They wanted us to have fun." She emerged from the shadows and sat on his stomach. She leaned down and whispered, "let's have some fun." She leaned back, grabbed a match, lit it and dropped it.

"Spike!" Lew was desperately trying to wake Spike without touching him. Spike was screaming and writhing in the bed. His heart monitor was beeping loudly, his heart rate over 120.

The team and three nurses rushed in unsure of what was happening. Lew stopped them by putting his hand up and looking at them.

Lew leaned closer to Spike's face. "Spike. It's Lew. She's gone Spike. Gone. She can't hurt you anymore. You're safe. Open your eyes."

"Easy Lew." Wordy said when Lew's tone hinged on desperation.

The woman laughed at Spike. A deep, throaty sexy laugh meant to demean him further. He would never escape. She won't let him. "Noo." He growled.

"Back up Lew." Wordy had moved ahead of the others,but still behind Lew fearing Spike would lash out at him. He stayed within reach of Lew's shoulder.

Lew tried again, this time with a calm even voice. "Spike. I'm here. Open your eyes. I won't let you go. Ever."

Slowly Spike opened his eyes. He wasn't there. His eyes fell on Lew and then filled. "Lew." Spike picked his hand up off the bed, desperate for comfort.

Lew dropped into the chair next to the bed. "I gotcha buddy. Not letting go." He took Spike's hand.

Spike nodded. He had calmed enough that the nurses left, but they had given him more morphine.

Spike was quiet for a full minute, looking at the ceiling, tears flowing freely.

The team stood still. Unsure of what to say or do. When Spike started speaking it surprised them.

"Here I sit all alone like an airplane. On the edge of a sky full of solid grey. Staring at the ceiling, tell me that I'm dreaming...All these days that I know I'll never get back… All these dreams that we had fade to black. Try to wash it away. I'm torn to pieces, I'm broken down. I still see her face when she's not around. I sit here in misery wondering if I'll ever be, half the man you want me to be." At the last, Spike looked at Lew.

Lew nodded. He knew the song. "Even though I know you're not gonna come back. I can't wash it away." He squeezed Spike's hand. "But you can come back Spike." He had tears in his eyes now. "Please." He didn't care if he sounded desperate. Spike was slipping away from them. The edge is right there, beckoning. He'd seen it before when a close friend had been killed in a drive by. Sometimes he could still see it, even when he wasn't looking.

Spike couldn't think. What am I supposed to do? The morphine was definitely kicking in, he felt like he was having an out of body experience. He blinked to try to get some clarity but it was escaping him. He remembered what he wanted to say. He turned his head and looked at Sam. "I'm sorry Sam. She shouldn't have gotten me. She kicked my ass." He lifted his eyebrows. "What kind of SRU officer gets captured and tortured? I should've gotten away. I should've kicked HER ass. I went along with it. I went along with her. Why did I do that? Why didn't I get away? I'm supposed to be an SRU officer. Strong, fast, quick-thinking, smart."

Ed was shaking his head as he listened. Jules looked away, wiping tears from her face. Wordy and Greg looked away. Sam moved forward and went to Spike's other side. He took Spike's hand.

Spike's gaze followed Sam. "What's wrong with me? Why didn't I get away? She did-" Spike realized what he was about to say, even in his doped state. "So I guess I'm out. Can't have a useless SRU Constable. I'm.. Useless." Spike finally stopped and stared at Sam.

Sam turned and mouthed "out" to the rest of the team. They turned and left. Lew was reluctant to leave, but Sam gave him a 'it's ok' look. He turned back to Spike and looked him in the eyes. This is what he needs. Now starts the healing process. Get everything off his chest he needed to get out. Lay it all bare and allow Sam to help him pick up the pieces and put them somewhere safe. Then, and only then, could he have peace.

Spike sat back, that was all. He thought of porky pig's line "tha-tha-tha-uh-that's all folks. He chuckled and fell asleep.

Sam was confused. What was Spike thinking that would make him laugh? This wasn't they way he thought this would go. There's more. What happened in that building? What did that woman do to him? He really didn't want to know, but he knew it was something that Spike needed to say out loud. Let it go into the ether where it couldn't hurt him anymore. He let go of Spike's hand once he was sure he was in a deep sleep. He walked out to the waiting room.

Ed approached him first. "This is probably a dumb question, but how is he?"

"Not a dumb question." Sam half-smiled at Ed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Still not good. He didn't say anything else after you left." He shook his head. "He was pretty loopy, but he knew what he was saying. He stopped himself. I'm not sure what to do now except be there for him."

They had all been affected by what Spike had said, and they knew it wasn't over yet.

"I know. There's so much he isn't telling us." Greg frowned.

Sam looked at them each in turn. He could see the dark circles, worry lines and exhaustion on their faces. None of them had slept well the night before and it was nearly 0730 now. He wasn't sure if they would follow the suggestion, but he said, "you're all exhausted. Go home and get some rest. I should get back in there." He turned and walked back to the room without waiting for an answer.

"I think he's right." Greg said looking at his team. "I know it'll be hard, but go home and crawl in bed. Spike is in excellent hands. We'll meet back here at 1600. I've already talked to Halloran and he's given us the rest of the week off." The team was scheduled to be off tomorrow, Thursday, but the Commander understood the team's need to be with Spike. "We start back Monday, and Team Two has an extended leave."

"Copy that." The team answered. They knew it would be a long week and a half before their next days off, but it was worth it.

"Look, I know you guys have your families coming back," Jules looked at Ed and Wordy, "but if you want to come back to my place I wouldn't mind the company." She offered.

Ed and Wordy declined. They both wanted, needed, to see their families.

"As long as I don't have to sleep in the same room as floppy." Greg nudged Lew with his arm. Ed had told them about the night before while they were in the waiting room. They had all gotten a good laugh.

Lew shook his head. "Never living that down!"

They started making their way out of the hospital.

"No sir!" Ed laughed. His blue eyes twinkled.

"That was Sam that made the squeaking last night. I was fast asleep." Lew protested.

"Uh huh. Likely story." Jules gave him a 'yeah right' look. "I thought I was going to have to separate the three of you."

"It was like a slumber party without the frozen bra." Lew laughed then stopped when they looked at him. "What? I crashed a few slumber parties in my day."

The five of them laughed all the way to the parking lot.

Sophie and Clark were waiting in their car for Ed at the hospital entrance. "1600." He pointed to Lew, Jules and Greg.

"Hey I missed out on the slumber party fun remember?" Greg shrugged.

"Uh huh." Ed tipped his chin at them and climbed in the car. He kissed Sophie and said hi to Clark.

Shelly and the girls were waiting in their station wagon behind Sophie and Clark. "Tomorrow." Wordy looked at Jules, Greg and Lew. They waved and walked to the SUV. "Hey Shel. Hello my girls!" He kissed his wife and then looked in the backseat. All three of the little girls, still in their pajamas, started talking at once. They were very excited to have their Daddy back and anxious to tell them what they'd been doing the past two days. He smiled and listened as best he could while Shelly pulled away from the hospital.


	15. Chapter 15

Sam was jolted awake when the nurse walked into Spike's room. He looked at the clock, 10am. He sat up and rubbed his hands over his face to wake himself up.

The nurse was checking on Spike's IV and taking his vitals when the surgeon walked in. Another nurse followed him and started moving around the bed like they were going to take Spike somewhere.

"Hey. You taking him for more tests?" Sam stepped forward and stood by Spike's bed.

"Are you family?" The surgeon looked at him.

"Yes." Sam answered. It was the simplest answer.

"We need to take him to surgery. He has three burns that need skin grafts."

"The others aren't as bad?" Sam looked down at Spike. Damn her.

"No. The other seven are first or second degree and will heal on their own." The surgeon watched as Spike was wheeled out and moved to follow.

"How long will he be in surgery?" Sam stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Two to three hours." The surgeon looked at Sam and saw the concern in his expressive blue eyes. "We'll keep you updated."

"Thanks." Sam half-smiled. He turned away after the surgeon left. Ten burns. That rotten bitch. He kicked the small garbage bucket across the room, tossing the contents on the floor. He put a hand over his mouth and sucked in air through his nose.

"Constable Braddock?" A dark haired young woman stood in the doorway. She surveyed the garbage on the floor, the garbage bucket on it's side. The constable's body and face showed his anguish.

"Yeah." He recognized it was Michelle Trane from SIU. He nodded his head and followed her.

"I understand there are special circumstances here so I will make this as quick as possible." Michelle led him to a small room. She had checked with the staff and made sure they would give them privacy.

"Ok." Sam nodded.

The SIU interview only took an hour. She declared it to be a justified shooting and told him there wouldn't be any charges brought against him. There had been several questions on his mental state before he took the shot. Michelle wanted to be sure Sam took the shot because there was no other choice rather than revenge on the woman who had hurt his friend and brother. Sam made it clear that the hostage's life was in immediate danger and taking the shot had saved his life. She looked at him for several moments studying his face and finally agreed.

After the interview Sam went back to Spike's room and saw that someone had cleaned up his mess. He sat in the chair under the TV and waited.

##### Jules' house #####

Jules' eyes flew open and she looked around her darkened room. Son of a bitch. What a horrible dream. She was at the brick building, Spike was inside screaming and she couldn't get to him. No matter how fast she ran or how hard she threw herself against the door, she couldn't get through. He just screamed and screamed her name. She put her face in her hands and let herself cry. She pulled her knees to her and put her arms around them, putting her head against her knees. After several minutes she wiped her face with her hands and went to the bathroom to blow her nose. While she was blowing her nose she heard a knock from the other room.

"Jules?" Greg's muffled voice came through the door.

She took a step towards the door and opened it. "Sorry, did I wake you?" She sniffed. She put her head down and turned away from him.

"No." He shook his head and looked at her with concern. "You ok?"

"Bad dream." She wiped at her eyes.

He stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. When he felt her shoulders shake and her tears wet his shirt he held on.

She pulled away after a couple minutes and grabbed some tissue. "Thanks." She looked at him. "I guess I needed that." She'd been holding herself and them together for days and it'd finally caught up to her.

Greg was glad she had finally let go. He knew she was very good at putting on her professional mask and getting through things, but eventually it had to come off. "Anytime." He smiled at her. "It's been a rough week."

"Yeah." She laughed. "It's not over yet." She looked at him. They both knew that this was going to be a tough road for Spike.

"Well." He looked at her expectantly.

She gave him a confused look, then followed his gaze to the toilet. "Oh!" She turned and walked out of the bathroom, pulling her door closed behind her. She blew out a breath when she was alone again. How do I get them through this when I'm not even sure how to get through it, she thought. She heard someone in the kitchen and looked at the clock. 12:30. Maybe I can do it. She looked from the bedroom door to her bed and back again. The hostess in her wouldn't allow her to go back to bed. Mom always said, 'never let your guests go without.' God she missed her in moments like this. She got dressed and went downstairs. She found Lew in the kitchen attempting to make an omelet. "Hey." She walked over and watched him try to use the spatula to get the eggs ready to flip one handed. "I've got it." She smiled. "How are you feeling?" She asked as he stepped away and leaned his hip against the sink.

"Ok." He shrugged, then winced when it hurt his shoulder. "Shoulder's still pretty sore." He took a pill bottle from his pocket, got the cap off and popped one.

"Did you sleep?" She watched him pop the pill. She was surprised he took anything, but he knew better than she what he needed.

"Yeah. Some." He looked down. It had been very fitful.

She nodded and flipped the omelet over. "Yeah me too." She looked over at the veggies he had chopped for the omelet. "Hmm. These look yummy." She put some in his omelet and started mixing eggs for hers.

The phone rang and Lew put up a finger to tell her he'd get it. "Hello. Jules Callahan's amazing kitchen." She looked at him and laughed.

"Lew?"

"Hey Ed. What're you doing up?"

"Right back at you." Ed smiled into the phone. "Anyone else up?"

"Yeah, Jules and I." He looked at her.

She turned and whispered, "Sarge too."

"And Sarge too Jules says."

"Ok. I'm heading to the hospital in a bit. I'll see you there."

"Copy that." Lew agreed and hung up the phone. "Ed's on his way to the hospital." He relayed.

"Ok. As soon as Sarge comes down and we eat we'll head too." She put his omelet on a plate and handed it to him.

"Sounds good. Thanks." He sat in the dining room and ate.

##### hospital, Spike's room #####

Sam had turned on the TV and was watching a movie when Spike was wheeled back into the room. He stood back so they could get him settled and waited for the surgeon. Spike was still asleep.

The surgeon motioned to Sam from the door. He waited until Sam was outside the door before he began. "Everything went great. We took some skin from his right thigh and were able to cover the spots. Now it's just a healing process."

"How long will he have to stay here?" Sam asked. He wanted Spike to heal, but knew the real healing would take place outside of the hospital.

"That depends on him. If he doesn't develop an infection, we may be able to let him go at the end of this coming week." The surgeon shrugged. "Does he have a good support system outside of the hospital?"

Sam thought of the other five members of his team and answered honestly, "the best."

"Good." The surgeon smiled. "I'll check in on him in a little while. Right now he needs to rest. We're going to keep him sedated for the rest of the day. This is painful procedure, so he'll stay on the morphine for awhile longer."

San nodded. "Thanks doc." He watched the surgeon turn and leave and went back into the room. He sat in the chair next to Spike's bed, took his hand and started talking. He talked about the first time that Sam had met the team and they had all pointed their guns at him. He thought he was going to die until Halloren had stepped in and introduced him. He talked about the time Spike had kept him from falling off a scaffolding and nearly breaking his neck. About the hard times he and Spike had when Sam first started on the team, about the good times they'd had lately doing stuff together outside of work. He hoped that Spike was listening, because he had a lot to say.

#### burn unit waiting room, 1400 hrs #####

Jules, Greg and Lew arrived in the waiting room to find Ed already there, sitting in a chair looking through a magazine.

"Hey." Greg said as he sat next to Ed. Lew sat next to him and Jules remained standing. "Have you heard anything?"

Wordy walked in and stood next to Jules.

"I called the nurses station, they said they'd send someone out." Ed smiled when he saw them all.

A few minutes later a very tired looking Sam walked into the room.

Jules didn't waste any time, she walked to him and gave him a hug. He held her close for a minute, then released her.

"Hi." He put his hands in his pockets as he walked forward, Jules stood next to him her hand on his back. "So they took him to surgery this morning." Everyone gasped. "He, uh, had three bad burns so they did skin grafts on those. He came back from that," he looked at the clock, "about an hour ago. They said they're going to keep him sedated until at least tonight because it's a painful procedure. They've also got him on heavy pain meds because of that too."

Lew watched Sam as he relayed the information. His eyes were red rimmed, his face and stance full of the emotion he was trying to hold in. Man, he's wrecked. He needs to sleep and probably eat. Lew looked at Wordy. Wordy furrowed his brows and nodded. I've got him, his look said.

After a moment of silence as everyone took in this information, Wordy looked at Sam. "Sam, no offense, but you aren't looking too Samtastic right now." He smirked.

"Gee thanks." Sam scoffed.

"When was the last time you ate? Or slept?" Wordy crossed his arms over his chest, expecting resistance.

"Yesterday and a little here and there last night." Sam mirrored Wordy's stance, confirming Wordy's thinking.

"Did SIU do their interview?" Greg cutting in.

"Yeah and it was found to be justified." Sam confirmed. "No charges."

"Good. Wordy." Greg looked from Sam to Wordy.

"Let's go." Wordy hitched a thumb at the exit. Sam eyes started to fill with anger. "Uh uh." Wordy shook his head and stepped closer to Sam. Ed stood and moved to Sam's other side. "We're getting something to eat and then you're going to bed. We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Wordy tipped his head back, seriousness in his eyes.

Sam saw the look on Wordy's face and felt Ed's presence on his other side. He knew it would be pointless to fight them.

Lew, Greg and Jules had stood too, ready to lend a hand if needed. Lew saw Sam surrender when his body relaxed. He moved forward and put a hand on Sam's back. "He won't be alone."

"Thanks." Sam said then turned and left with Wordy.

When Lew started to head to Spike's room, Jules spoke up. "I'll go."

Lew could see that she needed to be with Spike as much as he did. All right little sister, he thought. He stopped and went back to sit next to Greg and Ed.

Jules nodded a thanks and headed to Spike's room. She suited up and walked into the room.


	16. Chapter 16

Jules stopped and took in the scene in front of her. Spike was laid back in the bed, sleeping and pale. A heart monitor next him beeped, strong and steady. His chest rose and fell with each breath. Oh god, he looks so frail. She walked forward and sat in the chair next to his bed. "Spike." Her voice was rough with emotion. It hurt to even speak his name. She took his hand. "It's Jules Spike. I'm here. I'm not sure if I should even be here, considering.." Her voice fell off. No. No sadness, positivity only. "But I was selfish. I'm that way sometimes, you know. I had to come see you." She looked down at his hand and smiled. "Remember that subject a couple weeks ago that came at me with a machete? Before he could get to me you tackled him and said, 'not so fast Blackbeard!' I thought I was going to die laughing! I couldn't keep a straight face when I was cuffing him!" She laughed out loud at the memory. "Lew had to read the guy his rights and even he couldn't keep a straight face!" She looked at him seriously. "What if that happens again? Who's going to come flying to my rescue?" She stroked the top of his hand with her other hand. "We need you. Come back to us."

"No. More. Pirates." Spike choked out. He was in a fog, but he could hear Jules' voice reaching out to him. It brought him to the surface. Where am I? Why does Jules sound so upset? He shook his head to try to clear it, but it barely moved.

"Hey, there you are." Jules was surprised when she'd heard his voice.

He struggled to understand, his brows furrowed as he tried to concentrate. He took a deep breath and felt some pulling on his chest. He tried to lift his hand to feel his skin, but it felt like it weighed a million pounds and wouldn't move.

"Spike. Do you need anything?"

"Where?" He tried to focus on her face but his eyes were blurring.

"You're in the hospital." He doesn't remember? It's the sedatives. Somehow he had broken through them to wake up. "It's ok. Close your eyes. You need to rest. We'll talk later."

Spike felt his eyes fluttering shut. So tired. Just need to sleep. No dreams, just sleep. Tell her to get the hell out. Don't need her here. No wait, need Jules. "Tell her. Get outta here. No dreams." He muttered before he fell back to sleep.

Me? Jules frowned. He wants me to leave? She stood, stunned. Did I say something wrong? Maybe I should go. Maybe a female presence is too much. She started to back away when Lew walked in.

"What's the matter?" He could see the panic on her face.

"I was talking to him and he woke up. He told me to leave." She turned, ready to comply.

"Wait. What did he say? He's sedated, I'm sure that was it." Lew grabbed her arm before she could leave.

"He said: 'tell her. Get outta here. No dreams'. It was too soon for me to be in here." She shook her head.

"No dreams." Lew thought about it and said, "it's 'her' Jules. The subject. He meant tell her to leave. He's having nightmares about what happened."

She looked at him and blinked. Oh. Not me. "Right. Yeah." She looked towards the door and decided against it. She went back and sat in the chair under the TV so Lew could take the chair by the bed. They didn't talk much, just kind of hung out. Once in awhile they would engage in whispered conversations about something on the TV.

##### Tim Horton's, near the hospital #####

"Oh man. That was good." Sam rubbed his stomach. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he had sat down with his food. Wordy had laughed at the amount of food Sam had ordered, but he had eaten it all.

They had chosen a booth by the windows and Wordy had turned from people watching when Sam spoke. He laughed at the satisfied look on Sam's face. "Better?"

"Oh yeah." Sam said then burped. "S'cuse me." He put a hand on his chest. Now that he was full, he could feel his body relaxing, readying for shut down.

Wordy saw Sam's shift to sleepiness and grabbed his tray. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Sam grabbed his tray and followed Wordy to the garbage. They dumped their trays and left the building. They piled into Wordy's station wagon and headed to Sam's apartment. Without protest, Sam headed to his bedroom. Before he went in he said, "you don't have to wait. I'll meet you at the hospital later."

"I'm good." Wordy sat on the couch. He had no intention of leaving Sam until he knew that he had gotten some sleep. Hell he may even sack out on the couch for awhile. He'd tried to sleep, but couldn't. He'd gotten up and spent time with his girls instead.

"Suit yourself." Sam shrugged, went into his room and closed the door. He looked at his bed. Oh yes, come to papa. He sat on the bed, pulled off his shoes, socks and jeans and climbed into bed.

When he woke, it was dark out and he was a little confused. He sat up and blinked to clear his mind. After a minute he remembered the last four days. Shit. Spike. He went into the bathroom attached to his bedroom to shower. When he opened his bedroom door, he saw Wordy asleep on the couch, the TV on a kids channel. He snorted. Must've been boning up on the latest shows so he could be in synch with his girls, Sam thought. He tiptoed over to Wordy, leaned down by his head and loudly announced, "it's Caillou! Let's play!"

Wordy shot up into a sitting position, ran a hand over his face and said, "ok honey, give Daddy a minute." Then realizing where he was he looked at Sam. "Ass."

Sam laughed and stood. "But Daddy, I want to play!" He did his best little girl impression and danced around like he was in a dress, holding the imaginary ends of it out prettily.

"Not bad." Wordy laughed. "But you need to add a little more whining in there."

"Daddeeee." Sam whined in a high pitched voice, like he'd heard Wordy's girls use.

"Perfect." Wordy looked at him. Much better. The red rimmed eyes were gone, replaced by rested and relaxed ones. His body language said he was rejuvenated and ready. "Now you look a little more Samtastic."

Sam nodded. "Thanks." Sam walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. "Want some?" Sam showed his glass to Wordy.

"Yeah, please." Wordy stood, stretched and walked to the kitchen. He took the full glass Sam offered, downed it all in one gulp and put the glass in the sink.

"Damn." Sam scoffed.

"Yeah I was a little thirsty." Wordy shrugged. "Ready?"

"Yes." Sam finished his drink, put his glass and Wordy's in the dishwasher and used the dishrag to wipe water from the edge of sink. He went to the living room, straightened the magazines on the coffee table, turned off the TV and put the cushions back in place. He looked by the door realizing Wordy was watching him. "What?"

"Nothing. I just admire your sense of order." Wordy was looking at him in amazement.

"You can take the man out of the military.." Sam said as he followed Wordy out the door, closed and locked it behind him.

##### hospital burn unit waiting room, 1900 hrs #####

Ed stood and looked at the door of the waiting room. Jules had been at Spike's side for several hours now and Lew had gone in an hour or so ago. He was antsy to see Spike. He needed to see him, to talk to him even if he couldn't talk back. Without saying a word, he left the waiting room, suited up and went in Spike's room.

"That is so fake." Jules was pointing at the TV. She and Lew had pulled their chairs together at the bottom of Spike's bed and were watching a buddy cop film.

"Yeah we wouldn't ever say that." Lew pointed at the TV and agreed shaking his head.

"We're so much more intimidating than those TV cops can portray." Ed agreed.

"Hey Ed." Jules turned and acknowledged him, then turned back to the screen.

"Hey. Would you mind if I-" Ed pointed his thumb back at Spike.

"Sure." Lew patted Jules on the arm and hitched his head towards the door. She understood and followed him out.

Ed took Lew's chair and put it next to Spike's bed. "Hey Spike." He couldn't stop his eyes from filling. He took a choked breath, "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left you alone in the house. I'm sorry buddy. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. Please forgive me." When he didn't receive an answer, Ed put his elbow on the bed, hand over his eyes and let the tears come. He'd talked to Soph about what happened, but it hadn't totally quelled his guilt. He sat there for several minutes before he finally took a tissue from the rolling tray near Spike's bed. He blew his nose and settled back into his chair. He started talking to Spike about little things, Clark's recital coming up, Sophie's excitement about getting a catering job for one of the Mayor's functions. How he'd have to wear a monkey suit for Sophie's cousin's wedding, the woman he hated. How much he missed hearing Spike's jokes and laugh. The way Spike was able to make them laugh no matter how serious things got. Forever the calming voice when he and Sam (or anyone else) got heated. He chuckled, "you know I'm going to be on your ass pushing you every single day so I hope you're ready." Ed smiled. "Rest up buttercup." He sat in silence listening to the heart monitor beeping.

Sam and Wordy arrived back at the hospital a short time after Ed went in to sit with Spike.

"Has he woken up yet?" Sam asked concern clouding his eyes,

"For a minute or two. He talked to Jules a little, but didn't say much." Greg answered. Jules had gone to the cafeteria to find them some food.

"Did it upset her?" Wordy asked.

"A little, but it was a misunderstanding, that's all." Lew answered. He told them what Spike had said. "Ed went in and wanted to sit with him for awhile."

When Jules came back with some sandwiches and water, they ate and discussed how they wanted to handle the next couple of days before they went back to work. They agreed that it wasn't a good idea for Spike to be alone. His mom had been there for a few hours while Sam and Wordy had gone to Sam's to sleep and it had been rough for her to see her little boy that way. They decided to make a plan without her so that they could cover when she couldn't be there and were there to support her when she was. It would make it easier for her. She could leave knowing Spike was taken care of. Lew offered to check in on her a couple times a day over the next week to make sure she was doing ok. He was worried about what the stress of both of her men being sick would do to her. They had agreed on that whole heartedly. They decided that they would pair off and take six hour shifts for the next 48 hours. That would give Ed and Wordy time to be with their families and get some rest for when they were up for a night shift. The pairs were: Ed and Greg, Lew and Wordy and Sam and Jules. Wordy and Jules had stepped aside and had a discussion of their own for a second while the group was discussing the schedule. They agreed that Sam and Lew would each need a strong leaning post when it came to Spike. Jules asked to be with Sam. She knew she could hold him up if he needed it. They had agreed and proposed the pairs to the group. Sam and Jules were up first, followed by Ed and Greg then Wordy and Lew.


	17. Chapter 17

Sam and Jules said goodbye to the others, suited up and went into Spike's room. There'd been a shift change while they had been discussing things so the next nurse was in the room making her checks.

"Hi Kennedy." Sam smiled at the nurse who had been Spike's nurse last night.

"Hi Sam." She flashed her pearly whites at him. My god he's hot, she thought. She turned back to her patient before he saw her red face.

Jules rolled her eyes. Even without the cool pants on he caught women's eyes. When the nurse walked past Sam then turned to check out his butt, Jules gave her a dirty look that said, 'back off sister!'.

Sam caught her eye roll and eyed her with amusement. He waited until the nurse left and said, "jealous?"

"What do I have to be jealous about?" She frowned at him. She wasn't jealous. Ok, maybe a little.

"Mmmm." Was all he could say. Sam walked to the familiar chair and sat down.

Jules sat in the other chair, still facing the TV.

They sat quietly, each lost in their own thoughts.

Spike could feel the two people's presence in the room. He kept his eyes closed. He knew they were waiting for him to wake up and he wanted to delay talking to them for now. He kept his breathing even and his eyes closed.

Oh crap. What had they done to him? He could feel the spot on his thigh. It felt like they'd put an iron on it, hot and painful. The skin on his chest and stomach felt tight. Stitches. How many had they said? Over a hundred.

He could still feel her in the room with him. Waiting for him to wake so she could cut, burn, taser or whatever else she had in mind. He pushed her away. Get out, Spike thought. You can't stay here. He mentally stuffed her and the pain into a box and put it on a shelf.

Sam leaned forward and whispered. "I know you're awake."

Jules turned when she heard Sam speak, but he gave her a look that said 'wait, not yet.' She turned back around and forced herself to watch the TV even though she couldn't concentrate on it.

Damn. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Sam. There was a hint of the old Spike in his eyes. He forced a half smile on his face. "Hey Samo."

"Hey. How are you?" Sam knew it was probably a stupid question, but he had to ask.

"Good." Spike had answered quickly, faster than he meant to. Sam had barely gotten out the u in you before he'd replied. He grabbed the bed control and moved it into a reclined position.

"Really?" Sam studied his face. He could tell that Spike had a mask in place before he'd opened his eyes.

"Yeah." Again a quick answer. I have to stop doing that, Spike thought. They aren't going to believe you. Hell I don't believe me. "My thigh hurts. What did they do?"

Sam was very skeptical and watched Spike's face. "You had three burns that were really bad so they had to do skin grafts this morning. You've been out since then."

"Oh." He looked down at his chest. No, don't remember, he told himself. You burned yourself, that's why you're here. It wasn't real.

Sam saw the pain cross Spike's face and prepared himself for the coming of it.

"So I've been out all day?" Spike put his head back on the pillow.

Ok, Sam thought. He was surprised at the question. "Yeah. They said it was a painful procedure so they wanted to let you rest." Sam nodded. "How's the pain?"

"Uh, well it sucks." Spike looked at Sam for a quick second and looked back at his chest. "Probably like a 6 or 7." He knew that's what Sam wanted. Not everything, but enough for now.

"Do you want the nurse?" Sam stood.

"Yeah. Would you?" Spike nodded his head, still not looking at Sam.

"Sure." Before Sam stepped out he looked at Jules. He could see his concern reflected in her eyes.

Jules stood and took Sam's seat. She didn't say anything, just took Spike's hand in hers.

"Hey Jules." He didn't look up, but acknowledged her presence.

"Hi." She tipped her head to the side, trying to read him. She squinted at him. She could see the mask slipping and the pain taking over. "It's ok. We're here."

"I see you." Spike said, a little anger in his voice.

"And I see you." She said pointedly. You can't fool me, she thought.

Spike looked up at her. He took a breath and the mask was back in place. "So, what's new?"

"Not much. Just been hanging out. Ed and Sarge will be in later tonight." She made the light conversation he wanted.

Sam and the nurse walked back in.

"You're awake." The nurse commented. She checked his vitals. "So what's your pain level?"

"6, moving to a 7." He grunted when he moved to sit up straighter.

"Ok, I'll tell the doctor and we'll see if we can move up the dosage amount.

"Thanks." Spike put his head back against the pillows and closed his eyes. After a few moments he opened them and saw that Sam and Jules had switched places. Sam was in the chair closest to him. She had grabbed the other chair, turned it around to face him and was sitting there.

Sam watched Spike, thinking about how he was going to broach the subject without pushing Spike too far.

Spike looked from Sam to Jules. They were both waiting expectantly. He couldn't think of anything else to to talk about besides the events of the past four days so he skirted it as best as he could. "Is everyone else ok?"

"Yes. Shel and the girls were able to go back to the house this morning. The gas company was able to get the valve fixed and Wordy out a tamper proof box on it." Sam answered searching his face.

The nurse came back and injected the pain med into Spike's IV. "Buzz me if you need me. She said before she left.

"Sophie and Clark came back this morning too. The-" Jules paused looking at Sam. "Danger is over so.."

"Danger." Spike scoffed. It's leaking out, he thought. Get back in the box. He closed the cover and put it back on the shelf.

"Yes. She-" Sam put his hand out, palm up.

"She?" Spike spoke the word as if it were a swear word. His heart started beating rapidly, the monitor beeping loudly.

"I'm sorry. Easy Spike." Sam watched the monitor. "Sniper breathing. Bring it down or the nurse will come back and knock you out for the next couple days."

Spike started the rhythmic breathing but said, "wish she would. Permanently."

"You don't mean that." Sam shook his head and caught Spike's gaze. He watched the mask move back in place.

"No." Spike shook his head and looked away from their prying eyes. "Sorry. No I didn't mean it."

"No apologies necessary." Sam gave Spike a small reassuring smile.

They all remained quiet for several minutes. None of them really sure what to say. The situation had become even more difficult. Spike was in avoiding in a big scary way.

Laughter from the TV caused Jules to look to see what was on. Ironically, it was Spike's favorite old show Gilligan's Island.

In spite of himself, Spike smiled. He always saw himself as the smart and tech savvy (for his time) Professor. The only difference is that he didn't have a girl that he couldn't have to pine over. Spike left that to Sam.

It didn't take a genius to see that they still had feelings for each other. They better not break up the family, he thought angrily. And, they better keep the priority of life. If they put me in danger because they couldn't keep it in their pants. It made him angrier the more he thought about it.

"So, you guys going to be able to keep it in your pants?" He said to them. Both turned and looked at him, shock on their faces.

"What do you mean?" Sam looked at Jules. "We're not together anymore."

Jules turned her attention back to Spike. "Spike!"

"Oh please. I'm not an idiot. You obviously still have feelings for each other." Spike spat, his anger rising. "If any of the others get hurt because you can't keep the priority of life I will kill you myself."

"Where is this coming from?" Sam leaned forward on his knees.

"From me." Spike glared at them. "Whatever. Go break up the team." Spike waved his hand at them.

"Spike-" Sam frowned.

"Just go." Spike growled. "Go be together if that's what you want. Just don't do it here."

"Why are you so mad?" Jules asked, her dander starting to rise.

"Go. I don't need you." Spike looked Jules in the eye.

Sam saw that cut Jules hard and grabbed her arm. He pulled Jules from the room leaving Spike to stew.


	18. Chapter 18

"Damn." Sam kept a hold on Jules' arm until they were in the empty waiting room.

Jules had let Sam pull her from the room but when they got to the waiting room she yanked her arm from his grip. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Spike doesn't need me. No, he doesn't WANT me to help him. Not be one of his leaning posts, his sister?

"Jules." Sam said her name as a warning. "Don't."

She looked at him, confusion and hurt in her eyes and on her face. "That's what he said. Don't."

"No." He moved in front of her and put his hands on her arms. "He didn't mean it. He's obviously very angry, but he's not angry at us."

Her head had dropped but he could feel her shaking. He pulled her into his arms, one hand on her back, the other on the back of her head. "He didn't mean it. He needs you whether he thinks so or not."

She sniffed and steeled herself, pulling back from Sam. "What just happened? He flew off the deep end and neither of us had even said a word." She was confused.

Sam looked at her, the hurt was still there, but she had tucked it away. "I don't really know. He's not dealing with what happened though." He looked away from her, searching the floor. "We'll give him some time to calm down and go back in. Just be ready. It's probably going to get worse before it gets better."

She nodded and took a seat. Sam sat next to her.

"Do you think the others see what he sees?" Jules had to ask. It was out there already.

"I don't know. Do you?" Sam was very interested in her answer. It excited him to think that maybe she still had feelings for him.

"Do I think you still have feelings for me?" Jules looked in his eyes. The answer was there, yes definitely. She looked at her hands. "I don't know, but we already went through that. So we both need to just, move forward."

Both? Meaning she still has feelings for me? Sam smirked but dropped it when she looked at him. I can wait, he thought. "Ok."

They waited a half hour before Sam sent Jules in. Jules didn't want to go back in by herself after what Spike said, but she did it anyway.

Spike was watching TV and ignored her approach although he had actually been watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Jules sat in the chair by the TV which she moved so it was sideways. That way she could look at the TV or Spike. Now, she waited.

After a funny joke, they both laughed and the tension seemed to break.

"Must be some kind of marathon on huh?" Jules asked him, her tone light.

"Yeah. Three hour tour." Spike joked.

Jules looked at him in surprise and laughed. "Nice." She smiled.

"Thanks." Spike looked at her and held her gaze. He felt bad for what he'd said to her, but she knew he didn't mean it. Things seemed fine now.

"So which one is this?" Jules asked, turning back to the TV. Ok, guess you aren't going to apologize, she thought.

"The Harlem Globetrotters land on the island." Spike said.

"Huh." Jules sat and watched the episode in silence.

Sam walked in a few minutes later. He'd been listening at the door and took the lull in conversation as a cue to enter. He sat in his chair and joined in the silence. After a couple episodes, he looked at the clock and saw that it was nearly 0100. Ed and Sarge would be here soon.

He stretched and looked back at Spike. He picked up the bed control and put the sleeping Spike and bed in a flatter position. Sam leaned forward and tapped a sleeping Jules on the shoulder.

She jumped and looked back at Spike. Sound asleep. She looked at Sam and he motioned her to follow him. They walked out of the room and met Ed and Greg in the waiting room.

"How'd it go?" Greg asked. He could see when they exchanged looks that it was rough.

Sam told them about the conversation and Spike's anger.

Ed looked at Jules when Sam told them what Spike had said to her. He could see the hurt it had caused. "He didn't mean it." Ed put a hand on her back and rubbed soothingly.

Jules told them what happened when she went back in the room. That part made her angry. Why hadn't he apologized? She should've brought it up, but she wanted him to make the first move.

"Ok. Go home, get some rest. We've got it. You're on in 12." Greg said and sent them off.

Jules and Sam left without an argument. They retreated to their respective homes to try to unwind and recharge.

"Let's go." Ed said forcefully.

"We can't go in there upset." Greg put up a hand and stopped him. "Spike needs us level-headed."

Ed took a deep breath. He knew Greg was right, but he still wanted to give Spike a dressing down for hurting Jules. "All right." He put his hands on his hips.

"Besides, he's sleeping. We got the easy shift." Greg joked.

"Not for long." Ed said under his breath. They suited up and went in.

Greg had been right. Spike had slept the whole six hours and through their change to Wordy and Lew. Greg passed on what Spike had said to Jules but told them not to mention it. Spike and Jules had to work it out.

Spike opened his eyes and expected to see Jules and Sam, but saw Lew sitting in the chair next to the bed and Wordy watching TV from the other chair. Man he needed a change of scenery.

"Morning." Lew smiled.

Spike picked up the bed control and let the bed help him sit up. "Hey." The pain was back. Mask, mask, mask he told himself.

"How you doin?" Lew asked, studying his face.

I'm getting tired of that question, he thought. "Peachy keen jelly bean." Spike answered with what he hoped passed for cheerful.

Wordy turned and frowned at Spike. That is not Spike, he thought sadly.

Lew laughed and said, "you want to try that one again?"

Spike frowned deeply at him. "Oh, is that not the proper answer?" He asked sarcastically.

"Spike." Wordy warned.

"What?" Spike drew out the word and made a 'duh' face.

"We just want to make sure you're ok." Wordy stood and went to his other side.

"Well I'm fine." After he said it he looked at them in alarm. He knew they'd know he meant F.I.N.E. "I mean ok. Not fine."

"I'm thinking you were right the first time." Lew gave him an incredulous look. This is not his friend. This sarcastic, angry person was not the lovable, happy go lucky Spike he knew. "It's ok to be fine sometimes." Lew shrugged. "We go through the hard times so we can get to the good times."

"Well aren't you just Miss Mary Sunshine." Spike made a disgusted face. His voice dripped with sarcastic venom.

"That's enough." Wordy said harshly. "You may not appreciate us being here right now, but some day you'll look back to this day and be glad we were." He let his anger fill his words.

Spike's face dropped in surprise at the rough way Wordy was speaking. He hasn't ever spoken to me like that, he thought. Why would they want to be here? I can't control myself, my emotions. "I, uh, guess you'll want to go then." He said, his voice small.

"You're not listening Spike. We aren't going anywhere. You're stuck with us whether you like it or not." Lew answered before Wordy could, but he nodded in agreement.

Spike nodded his head. What am I doing, he thought. He laid back in the bed and closed his eyes. Just make it go away, he thought. Take it away for real, not just some box I keep closing up and putting away that won't stay that way.

Wordy and Lew waited. The mask had dropped and the raw pain was etched on Spike's face. They saw him pick up the pieces and put the mask back in place.

He took a breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have- It's a, I mean I'm a little rough right now and I'm sorry." He had to search for the right words. Find the ones that would keep him from being emotional.

"Don't be sorry Spike, we understand you're going through a tough time right now." Wordy stopped and thought, then spoke again. "Well, you owe Jules an apology. I won't let you out of that. But, you can stop trying to push us away. It's not going to work." Wordy gave him a serious look.

"Yeah." It was all he could manage without crying. He hadn't meant to push them away, but they wanted from him something he couldn't give them. And they kept asking, maybe not out loud, but every time they looked at him.

Soon after the plastic surgeon came in and checked the progress of Spike's burns. Wordy and Lew stepped out during this. They knew it would upset Spike for them to see his chest and stomach. Everything was starting to heal, but his skin was still red, pink and all the colors of his multitude of bruises. His eye had a deep purple ring under it now, the rest a sickly yellow color. The surgeon was pleased with his progress and told him that if this kept up he could go home as early as Wednesday.

When Wordy and Lew went back in the doctor shared the good news.


	19. Chapter 19

"Wow, that'd be awesome." Lew smiled at Spike.

"Oh man. I'm so ready to be out of here." Spike said truthfully.

Wordy motioned to the surgeon and they walked out together, Spike and Lew were still talking about Spike leaving the hospital.

"Listen, if you have a psychologist on staff, I'd appreciate if they'd come evaluate Spike." Wordy requested.

"Yes we do. I understand he was held captive and that's why he has these wounds. I can imagine that would be tough to deal with." The surgeon nodded.

"Except he's not dealing with it." Wordy said sadly.

The surgeon nodded. "Ok, I'll have Doctor Culpepper come talk to him."

"If that's a man, that would be good. I don't know if he can talk about it with a woman." Wordy added.

"Oh. Ok I'll have her send her associate then." The surgeon said and went to make the call.

"Thanks doc." Wordy waved and returned to the room.

"So, when do you think Sarge will let me come back?" Spike was asking Lew when Wordy walked in.

"I don't know. He may ask you to do requals once you're physically able." Lew shrugged. He'd taken the sling off and was testing his shoulder without it. It seemed ok so far. He got his stitches out Monday morning.

"Yeah." Spike looked at his stomach. Why'd he have to burn himself? Stupid idiot. "I'm so clutzy." He murmured.

"What? What do you mean clutzy?" Wordy asked, confused.

"I burned myself. It's my fault I'm here." Spike looked at him, his face serious and then confused as to why Wordy didn't know that. "Don't you remember?"

"No. You didn't burn yourself Spike." Wordy stopped, unsure if he should continue. Now he doesn't remember what happened to him.

"What? Are you feeling alright?" Spike laughed. "Maybe you need this bed more than I do."

Lew looked at Wordy. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." Wordy shook his head.

"Hey. What are you guys doing?" Spike looked at them. "I can hear you you know."

"We know Spike. Did they give you more morphine?" Wordy asked. Maybe that's why he was pretending not to know about his capture.

"No. I wish though. That's some good stuff." Spike looked at his chest again. How had he burned himself? He wondered. Must've been Ma's new heavy casserole dish. He wouldn't be surprised if he'd dumped it on himself. I must've broke it too, got cut everywhere. That must be it.

A nurse stuck her head in and motioned to Wordy. He turned and followed her to the hall.

"Did you give him another dose of morphine?" Wordy asked before she could speak.

"No, the doctor wanted to switch him from that because it can be addictive. We gave him a less potent sedative awhile ago. Does he need another dose?" She explained.

"No. He's good right now. I was wondering because he's acting funny." Wordy frowned.

"Funny how?" A male voice cut in.

Wordy turned to see a man about mid-forties with dark red hair wearing a hospital name tag that said: Kevin Fitzherbert, LMHC.

"Hi, I'm Kevin Wordsworth, people call me Wordy." Wordy introduced himself.

"I'm Kevin Fitzherbert, the hospital counselor. So you said Mr. Scarlotti is acting funny?" He studied Wordy's worried face.

Wordy filled him in on what he knew had happened to Spike and told him Spike hadn't talked about it in detail yet. "He's been very angry, but now he thinks he did it to himself."

"He may be trying to disassociate himself from the trauma. It's common in people with PTSD." Kevin explained. "I'll talk to him and let you know."

When Wordy tried to follow, Kevin put his hand up. "I understand your need to protect him, but it's possible you're too close to him and that's why he won't talk about it." He gave Wordy a sympathetic and understanding look. "It's ok."

The counselor went in and Lew came out. "He wouldn't let me stay." Lew said incredulously.

"Yeah me either." Wordy looked knowingly at Lew. They went to the waiting room and hung out, waiting.

At 12:45, Sam and Jules walked into the waiting room.

Sam gave Jules a look after he saw Wordy and Lew's faces. Not good. "What happened?" Sam asked.

"There's a counselor in there with him. I asked the hospital to have someone evaluate Spike." He told them about Spike's behavior and that he'd snapped at Spike. Then his change in attitude and thinking that he caused his injuries.

Wordy felt bad that he'd called a counselor, but he knew Spike was in real trouble. He related this to Sam, Lew, and Jules but they agreed that he'd done the right thing.

At nearly one, the counselor left the room. The four of them crowded around him, waiting expectantly.

"He wouldn't talk to me except to tell me not to call him Michelangelo. He was very upset by that which I'm assuming has to do with his captor. He was upset that I was there and insisted he was fine, no, ok." Kevin looked at his notes, then back to the group.

"Spike is in a very fragile mental state right now. He has pulled himself from the reality of the situation in order to deal with it. He needs to start seeing someone regularly ASAP. If he doesn't, I may have to consider keeping him in the mental health ward."

"Thank you Mr. Fitzherbert." Wordy shook his hand. "We'll make sure he gets what he needs."

"Please do." Kevin walked away.

"Holy shit." Sam said to them, his face panicked. "What's the name of the counselor we use? Greene?"

"Yeah Deborah Greene." Lew nodded. He knew Spike was bad, but so bad that he had to stay in the mental health ward? He couldn't help it, a tear streaked down his cheek.

"I gotcha." Sam whispered and pulled Lew into a hug.

"We're losing him." Lew said through his tears, which made him cry harder.

Jules watched them and felt her own tears forming. She put an arm on each side of Sam and Lew. They opened their arms and let her in. Wordy followed suit on the other side and was allowed into the circle. They stayed this way for a long time, trying to gather themselves.

Wordy was the first to pull back from the middle of their circle, but he kept his arms around them. "Listen, we are NOT losing Spike Scarlotti." He put a hand on the back of Lew's and the other on the back of Sam's heads. "We will fight this together as a family."

Lew nodded, the tears still running down his cheeks.

Jules put her hands on top of Wordy's. "I will not stand idly by while one of my brothers is falling."

Sam looked at her with admiration.

"I'll call Deborah, have her come see Spike as soon as possible. I'll also ask her to report to Mr. Fitzherbert so he knows about it." Wordy offered.

"Good." Lew stepped back, grabbed a couple tissues from the box on one of the tables and blew his nose. "Do you think Spike will talk to her? You said you asked for the hospital's male counselor."

"I don't know. He's talked to her before, so I'm hoping she can get him to talk." Wordy shrugged.

"I need to go check on Mrs S. She was in oncology earlier when I stopped in but she said they were heading home," he stuck his wrist out and looked at his watch. "They should be home now. She stopped in to see Spike, but he would barely look at her."

"Ok good. Thanks for doing that Lew. I know Spike would appreciate it." Sam smiled appreciatively.

Lew shook his head, said his goodbyes and left. Wordy followed, but before he left he said, "go careful." He knew what Sam was going to do and it worried him.

"I will." Sam nodded.


	20. Chapter 20

####### AN: this is an extremely emotional chapter. It made me cry when I was writing it and again when I edited… So be prepared! ######

Sam and Jules walked into Spike's room to find him sitting on the window sill. He had his knees up by his chest and was leaning his body against the window looking out in the distance. He obviously didn't care that he didn't have any underwear on under his johnny and he was sitting on the cold brick, bare bottomed.

Jules turned away. She knew Spike wouldn't want her to see so much of him.

Spike heard them come in, but he didn't care. He stared out the window, lost in thought. Part of him wished the window would break and he'd fall the two stories to the pavement.

"Spike?" Sam walked to him. "What're you doing?" Sam looked at him, fear in his eyes.

"Enjoying the view?" Spike said dully.

"C'mon. Get back in bed." Sam put his hand on Spike's arm. He pulled gently.

Spike let his legs flop down, scraping them against the brick. "Ow."

"It's ok. C'mon." Sam got his arm under Spike and walked him back to the bed. Sam sat him on the edge and then picked his legs up and put them in the bed.

Spike stiffened and laid back, his eyes on the ceiling. He waited. No cuffs? No rope? "Have I been good Mistress?"

Sam looked at him confused. What is he talking about?

"I get a sheet AND a blanket?" He pulled them to his chin. "Oh thank you Mistress." He snuggled down in the bed but was reminded not to move too much when his skin pulled and it hurt. He felt someone beside him still and he put his arms up to where the headboard should be. "I'm sorry." He waited for the pain he knew was coming.

"Spike?" Sam leaned over him, his face over Spike's, but he kept his eyes on the ceiling. What the hell is going on, Sam thought. He looked back at Jules who was standing there in shock. He motioned for her to take the chair by the door and make sure no one came in.

"Please no matches." Spike begged. He swallowed and dared to steal a look at her. Wait, he thought, that's not her. "Sam?"

"Yeah it's me." Sam moved back.

"Oh shit." Spike said.

"It's ok." Sam could see Spike was struggling to determine which reality he was in.

"No." He shook his head and clenched his jaw, the muscle working on the side of his face. "Someone get me through this nightmare. I can't escape this hell." He whispered still shaking his head.

Sam took his hand. "Feel this?" He squeezed tight. Spike changed the direction of his nod, then stilled.

"Get me out Sam." Spike looked at him, his eyes clear, but filled to the brim with every emotion he'd been working so hard to put away.

Sam pulled Spike gently into a sitting position, sat on the bed and pulled him gently but firmly into his arms. Spike felt the floodgates open and started to panic. He had to keep it safe. They won't understand if they know. They'll look at you with pity. You'll just be their pitiful friend, fragile and not worthy of them.

He tried to pull away, but Sam had a tight hold. "You won't understand."

"Try me." Sam wasn't letting go.

"Once you know, oh god, I can't, what you'll think." Spike had started to cry now.

"I couldn't ever think any less of you Spike." Sam pulled back to arm's length and looked in his eyes so he knew how serious Sam was. "You understand?" When Spike nodded, he pulled Spike back into the hug.

Spike couldn't keep it wrapped up anymore. He hoped it wasn't too much for Sam to take. He told Sam about being drugged, taken into the bedroom, tied up and the little cuts after the incident with the bowl. He sat back in the bed and away from Sam his knees up by his chest. Sam understood he was trying to self comfort.

He talked about how she took her time with each cut, enjoying it immensely. He stopped and his gaze flicked to Jules at the door. He didn't see pity when he looked at her. He saw fury. He looked at the wall when he talked about the cut to his groin and the touching. He took a breath and talked about the cold air, the kiss and the matches, knowing that would be hard for them to hear.

Spike stopped and put his palm to his forehead, the bottom sitting on the bridge of his nose. It took him several minutes to stop crying, and more than that to convince Sam he didn't want Sam to touch him. "Please don't," he'd said when Sam had moved towards him.

He took a breath and talked about the heavy chain and having to go the bathroom in front of her. He stopped and looked at Sam. He could see acceptance, and love in his eyes but his body was tense. Angry adrenaline was pumping through his body. He didn't know if he could talk about that night after the matches. He shook his head. No that was too much. He'd never talk about that.

Sam waited, he could see there was more. When Spike shook his head, he knew that was all Spike wanted to share.

Fresh tears fell from Spike's eyes. "How can you look at me like that after everything I just told you?" He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "She did horrible things to me. And I let her. I didn't escape. I wasn't strong enough. Some SRU officer." He scoffed.

When Sam moved forward again, Spike moved forward on the bed and let Sam embrace him again, this time he didn't hold back. He let the river flow, sometimes crying out when his sobbing hurt his torso.

Jules had to step out of the room, hot tears were streaming down her face. When a nurse started to approach her she waved her off and went to the waiting room in search of Kleenex. She sat in the chair and let the tears flow freely. Her heart hurt for Spike. How was it possible for one person to go through so much and be expected to keep going? She hoped his SRU family was the answer.

When Spike had no more tears left, he let go of Sam and looked for the tissues. He blew his nose several times. He stopped and looked at Sam who was blowing his nose too. "So, what do I do now?" He sighed and looked at Sam.

There, Sam thought. That was what he was waiting for. "Now you heal. And you do that by seeing a counselor for one, and then getting back to the SRU for another."

Spike thought for a moment. Damn that's going to suck. He looked at Sam, fear in his eyes. He didn't know if he could go through it all again in detail with some stranger. It's bad enough he's going to have to go through it again with the team. That was going to be a necessary evil. They needed to know so they could pick him up when he fell.

Sam waited patiently. He saw the fear in Spike's eyes and knew how hard this road would be for him. He'd been down that road once and it'd had been one of the hardest things he'd done. Listening to Spike talk about the abuse he suffered was another one.

"I, I don't know." Spike hedged.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"What if I can't re-qualify? What if I'm not SRU material anymore? What if I am weak? Pitiful? Fragile?" Spike shook his head. "What if I let you down?" He sighed. "What if I let them down?" The tears started again.

"What if you do? What if you are? What if there's no way we would let you feel like any of those? What if there was no way you could? What if they felt the same?" Sam asked in return. He raised an eyebrow at Spike. "What if I told you about a guy who went through something similar and asked those same questions?"

Spike was trying to take all this in.

"What if I told you that guy went through hell and back and is still sitting here today because of amazing friends like you?" Sam smiled.

"You?"

"Yeah Spike." Sam nodded. "Me. If I can come back from the edge, you can too. I know what it's like to be there. I've seen the edge and I've walked away."

Spike could see the edge, but it had moved back a little bit. He took a step back and reached out. "Ok."

Sam smiled and put a hand on Spike's back. For the first time in five days, Spike let a genuine smile travel from his lips to his eyes and light his face.

#####one more thing, ok two. 1) this is not the last chapter. And 2) while I was writing this the song "Fallen Angel" by Three Days Grace was playing. It's a perfect representation of Spike and Sam's conversation. I do not own the song, copyrights and am not part of the group (I wish but I suck at singing!)

You do it all for my own protection  
You make me feel like I'll be okay  
Still I have so many questions

How do you stay so strong?  
How did you hide it all for so long?  
How can I take the pain away?  
How can I save,

A fallen angel, in the dark  
Never thought you'd fall so far  
Fallen angel, close your eyes  
I won't let you fall tonight  
Fallen angel, just let go  
You don't have to be alone  
Fallen angel, close your eyes  
I won't let you fall tonight

Read more: Three Days Grace - Fallen Angel Lyrics | MetroLyrics


	21. Chapter 21

When Jules was finally able to pull herself together, she went back into Spike's room. She was surprised at the change in him. She could literally see that a huge weight had been lifted from him. He actually smiled, not the fake ones he'd been wearing, but the kind that reached his eyes.

"Hey Spike." Jules smiled. Keep it upbeat and casual, she thought.

"Hey Jules." Spike gave her a small smile. He held his breath and looked at her. He waited to see what what she thought of him now that'd he'd laid it all bare. He was surprised to see acceptance, love and hope.

"So?" She raised an eyebrow at him. When he cocked an eyebrow at her, she chucked. "You're going to make me ask the question you said you're tired of hearing?"

"Oh." Spike looked down and returned her chuckle, that question. "I'm, ok." He nodded. When she squinted at him, he added, "honest."

Jules studied his face and posture. He wasn't lying. He looked a little more confident and relaxed, not completely ok, but better.

Sam had moved back to his chair before Jules came in, but he stood and let her have it when she moved forward now.

She sat in the chair and smiled. "How's your pain?"

Spike looked at her, his face serious. "How's yours?"

Jules wasn't ready for that question. She had to admit that it was hard to sit in the chair, trying to make conversation after he had hurt her like he did. She wanted to yell at him or punch him in the arm like she usually did but she knew that was a bad idea. "Uh."

Spike shook his head. I hurt her. Damn you Michelangelo Vito Sangiacomo Scarlotti. Fix it. Fix it right now you idiot. "Oh Jules." He took her hand and stared at it. "I'm so sorry. I'm an idiot. I-" He let the tears of shame fall. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

She leaned forward and squeezed his hand. "It's ok." She understood. He had lashed out and unfortunately she had been in the crossfire.

"No it's not." He shook his head vigorously. He looked up, an inspired look on his face. "Once I'm SRU ready, I'll give you three hits, as hard as you want, but it has to be in the upper arms."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Alright. You're on! Only I choose when you get them and you can't say no." The tension broken, she felt herself relax.

Spike looked at her with admiration. Thanks little sister, he thought.

Just then Deborah Greene walked in. "Hi." She smiled at Sam and shook his hand, then Jules' and finally Spike's.

Spike stiffened when he saw the SRU counselor.

Sam saw Spike's body shift and shot him an encouraging look. This is necessary, you'll be better for it.

"Do you mind if we talk?" Deb smiled reassuringly at Spike.

Spike looked at Sam again and nodded. "Ok."

Jules and Sam left the room. Q

Deb sat in the chair Jules was using and took out her notepad. "How are you Spike?"

He rolled his eyes at her.

"What?" She arched an eyebrow.

"Sorry. I'm getting sick of that question." Spike sighed.

"I'm sure you are. Your friends are very worried about you. They want to make sure you're ok."

"They told you?" He looked at her in surprise.

"No." Deb shook her head. "Do you want to tell me?"

Spike put his head back on his pillows and blew out a breath. "Not particularly."

"Ok." She shrugged. "What do you want to talk about?"

##### burn unit waiting room, 1800 hrs#####

Sam returned from a run to Timmy's with an armload of food. He put it down on the coffee table in front of Jules.

"Did you buy the place out?" Jules laughed at the four bags on the table.

"I'm hungry." Sam shrugged.

"Sarge and Ed are going to make us run extra sprints for this." Jules put a bunch of fries in her mouth.

"It's worth it!" He took a bite of his first burger and rolled his eyes in ecstasy.

Jules laughed and covered her mouth. Keeping the food in would be good, she thought. They ate in silence until all that was left was a bunch of wrappers and used napkins. "Now that was impressive." She looked at Sam in astonishment.

He burped. "S'cuse me. Ah. It's a gift." He put his hands up.

"Yeah." She gave him a bit of a disgusted look, stood and started picking up. She let her gaze fall to the door of the waiting room and looked back at what she was doing. A strong hand grabbed hers. She looked up into big, blue, gentle and caring eyes.

"She'll be out when she comes out." He shrugged. "It takes time." He removed his hand and helped her.

"I can't imagine how you're handling all this." Jules said as they threw everything in the trash. They walked back to the chairs and sat down. Sam was contemplating what to say.

"I don't know honestly." He shrugged. "It made me glad that I shot her. I know that's horrible to say, and I shouldn't but," he turned to her, "I'm not sorry she's dead. Not at all." He shook his head and looked away. "Does that make me a terrible person?"

She thought for a moment. "No." She said with certainty. "No. That makes you a great friend. I feel the same way." She put a hand to her heart. "That woman hurt our friend deeply. But it doesn't feel like enough does it?" She asked, searching his blue eyes.

"No." He raised his eyebrows in agreement. It felt like the woman had gotten off easy. She paid with her life, but it didn't feel like justice was served. It just felt empty.

Deb Greene walked into the waiting room and felt like she'd interrupted a very deep conversation. "Do you want me to-?" She pointed her hands over her shoulders.

Jules and Sam looked up together and answered together, "no. We were, uh."

"Something you want to talk about?" Deb asked, motioning to the chairs.

Jules looked at Sam, panicked. This may not be something we should talk about, her look said.

Sam shook his head. "Uh, well we were just discussing our feelings about, the subject."

"Ok." She motioned them to sit. She wasn't sure what they were talking about but would play along.

Sam could see Deb was confused. "He hasn't told you yet."

Deb shook her head. "He wasn't ready to talk. I think I need to see him twice a week to start with." She took out her planner. "I can come back on Monday morning and Thursday afternoon." She looked at them. "I think a group session once a week would be helpful too. I can see there are some things among the group dynamic that may need be discussed."

Jules and Sam both nodded.

"He finally told us last night." Sam told Deb. "It may still be too raw to talk about again."

"You talk like you know," Deb tipped her head at him, "you've been through something similar." She guessed correctly, seeing the memories flash in his eyes. She nodded. "I'm not surprised he was able to open up to you, a kindred spirit. Hold onto that. It'll be important for him."

"Ok," Sam returned her nod.

"Thanks Deb." Jules smiled and shook her hand.

"You're welcome. Tell the others the first group session is Wednesday night." She called as she left.

"Copy- will do." Sam realized he was using SRU lingo and switched it. He knew Deb knew their lingo, but he felt like he should use 'civy speak' as they called it. It was what they switched to when trying to relate to the public. Non-police/military lingo.

"Ok. Let's go." Jules turned and walked back to Spike's room. When she saw that he had fallen asleep, his food untouched, she moved quietly to her TV chair. She sat down, letting Sam have the one by the bed. They watched a couple shows and we're moving to another when Ed and Greg walked in.

Sam and Jules both stood and pushed Ed and Greg out the door.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked, a little irritated at being manhandled.

"We had a breakthrough with Spike." Sam looked at them seriously. "He broke down and told us what happened."

"That's great Sam." Greg was so relieved.

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "It was pretty rough before that." He told them about Spike's attitude and Wordy losing his cool. He didn't go into what Spike told them, he knew Spike would share that when he was ready.

He told them what Fitzherbert had said about the mental ward and that they had called Deb Greene in. "She was here a little while ago."

"Good. She's good." Ed nodded. Man, these guys have been through hell in the last 12 hours, he thought.

"Do not ask him how he is." Jules instructed them. "He's been asked a lot." She sighed.

"Copy." Greg smiled. He could understand. "Are you and Spike, ok?" Greg looked at her, concerned.

"Yeah. We talked." She smiled.

"Ok. Good. Go get some rest." Ed patted them on the back.

"Oh," Sam stopped and turned around. "First group session is Wednesday night. Let Lew and Wordy know."

"Got it." Greg nodded.


	22. Chapter 22

Ed and Greg had pulled their chairs together at the bottom of Spike's bed while he slept.

"Clark's recital is Friday night at 7pm if you want to go. No pressure, you don't have to if you don't want to." Ed put up a hand toward Greg and spoke softly.

"Ok." Greg nodded. It was a non-committal answer. He knew they would all be checking in on Spike once he went home so he left it open. "You and Soph doing something special for your anniversary?"

"Oh always." Ed shrugged and gave him an 'of course' look. "I," he put a hand on his chest, "am the romance master."

"Alright, lay it on me." Greg moved his hand in a 'come here' gesture.

"Ok, so we're dropping Clark off at her parents, then we're flying to Niagara Falls for the weekend. Check out the city on both sides, lots of romance." Ed wiggled his eyebrows.

"Don't forget flowers and chocolates," said the voice behind him.

Both men turned at once to look at Spike. Ed stood first and brought his chair back by the bed. "That's a given." He smiled. "You don't become the romance master by forgetting the obvious."

"True." Spike half-smiled. He felt foolish for having a breakdown with Sam earlier. It'd felt good to get it out, but his behavior was so embarrassing.

Ed studied Spike. He could see Spike was embarrassed. It was probably because of the way he'd been talking to the team. He'd been so angry, and had taken it out on them.

"I'm good." Spike looked at him.

"Good. I'm glad. Didn't ask, but thanks for saying so." Ed smiled.

"Everyone keeps asking so I figured I'd put it out there." Spike shrugged with one shoulder.

Ed nodded in understanding. "Are they keeping you comfortable?"

"Yeah." Spike unconsciously put a hand on his stomach. "They changed me to pills instead of injections into my IV. I get those every couple of hours. Seems to keep the pain away."

"Good. I'm glad." Ed nodded.

"I'm glad you and Jules talked." Greg moved to stand by Ed.

"Yeah," Spike blushed. "I screwed up. But we're good now." He looked at them. "Seems to be happening a lot lately."

"Considering the circumstances, it's understandable." Greg closed his eyes and opened them again.

"The circumstances." Spike repeated. Did Sam tell them? That bastard. He had no right! Spike was starting to fume.

"Sam said you had a long conversation." Ed explained.

"Mmm. Did he?" Spike kept his gaze trained on his hands in his lap.

"Yes." Ed looked at Greg. Angry, his eyes said. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Spike looked at him and shrugged. The mask was back.

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Ed crossed his arms over his chest. Avoidance.

After a few moments of looking at his hands, Spike looked up and said, "I'm kinda beat. Do you mind if I-?" He hitched his thumb back at the bed behind his shoulder.

"If you're sure you don't want to talk." Greg said. What had made Spike revert to his attitude from yesterday, Greg thought. All of a sudden he was angry and distant again. Greg thought back on what they'd said. He couldn't find a point where they'd said anything upsetting.

"No. Just tired." Spike laid back against the pillows and closed his eyes.

"Ok. We're going to step out for a bit then and let you rest. We'll be in the waiting room if you need us." Ed stood.

"Ok." Spike answered, keeping his eyes closed.

Ed stayed for a beat looking at Spike. His body was completely tense, his frown causing wrinkles in his forehead. You can say you're ok, but I know better. Finally he turned and followed Greg to the waiting room.

Spike kept his eyes closed after they left, but didn't sleep. How could Sam do that to him, he thought angrily. He had trusted him with the truth and he went around telling everyone. He wanted to be the one to tell them. Maybe he didn't want them to know. He hadn't decided yet. Sam had made the choice for him.

This was a very personal thing and Sam took that away from him. Who else was he going to tell? The other teams? Halloren? His mother? Without his knowledge he balled his hands into fists. That son of a bitch better not come back in this room or he'll be sorry.

"Well something got him riled." Ed was saying as he paced the waiting room. "I don't get it."

"Ok, so what did we say to him?" Greg was trying to think back.

"I asked about his pain meds and he said that was handled." Ed remembered.

"Then I said I was glad he and Jules had talked."

"Right. He said he'd screwed up and had been doing that a lot lately. He started shutting down after that." Ed stopped and met eyes with Greg. "Do you think that's it?"

"I sensed he was feeling embarrassed and guilty about how he was acting. Maybe that set him off. I don't know." Greg shrugged.

"This is going to take a lot of time and patience to get him through this." Ed ran his hand over his head. I wish there was something I could do, he thought helplessly. I feel like we're doing everything we can though. Are we?

"Yes. All we can do is be there for him and try not to let this get to us." Greg read his mind. "It's going to be tough, especially at times like these.

Ed nodded. They spent the next hour talking about little things. Ed looked at the clock, 1245. Wordy and Lew should be here any minute. He was right, they both walked in two minutes later.

Greg and Ed filled them in on what happened between them and Spike and what they had said about Spike needing time and patience. Lew and Wordy nodded in understanding, although they knew they it was unlikely that they'd get to talk to Spike.

They had been right. Spike slept their whole shift. When Sam and Jules arrived for their shift, Wordy filled them in on the interaction between Spike and Ed and Greg. They said their goodbyes and parted ways with Sam and Jules sitting in their chairs in Spike's room.

Spike had heard them come in, but he thought it was Wordy and Lew. He was going to go back to sleep when he smelled Sam's aftershave. His eyes flew open. "You have some nerve coming in here. Get the fuck out right now." Spike spewed at Sam who had been looking down at his hands.

Sam's head snapped up. "Whoa. Spike. What's wrong?"

"You and your big god damned mouth!" Spike was yelling at nearly full volume.

"Me? What did I say?" Sam put his fingers to his chest and frowned in confusion. What is he talking about?

"Spike? What's going on?" Jules stood and walked to stand by Sam.

"Jules." He said it as a warning.

"Talk to me dammit." She put her hands on her hips.

"No! This is between me and the golden boy here. Actually, scratch that. You both can get out of my room. You can't keep your mouth shut about things that are no one else's business you don't need to be here." He pointed at Sam, then the door when he changed his mind.

"I don't understand." Sam said as calmly as he could manage.

"What's hard to understand? Get or out?" Spike yelled.

The nurse came in. "You people need to keep it down or I will have you removed." She gave each of them a serious look. When none of them said anything she turned and left.

"Spike, please." Sam put a hand out, palm up.

Spike looked at him, his eyes on fire. When Sam didn't move, Spike turned on his side and laid with his back to Sam and Jules. He didn't care that it was incredibly painful to be in that position.

Sam opened his mouth to speak but Jules turned to face him and shook her head. She hitched her chin at the door. They would give him what he wanted for now. They left the room.

"What the hell was that?" Sam said when they reached the waiting room. He stood with his hands on his hips.

"I don't know." Jules shrugged, confused. "He kept saying that you talked about something. Talked about things that are no one else's business."

"Yeah." Sam frowned. "Where would he get that from?"

"You didn't tell Sarge and Ed what he said to us."

"No." Sam looked at her incredulously. "Of course not."

"Me either, but I think he thinks we did." She put a hand to her chest.

"No wonder he's pissed. But why would he think we did that? He should know better." Sam put his hand, palm up towards Spike's room. He was getting angry now. Obviously Spike didn't trust him or think enough of him to think he'd betray his confidence.

"I don't know. I have to say I'm surprised." Jules blinked hard and raised her eyebrows. She looked at Sam and could see him getting angry.

"I'm going to straighten this out." Sam growled and headed towards the door.

Jules stepped in front of him and put her hands up. "Uh uh. Nope." She gave him a hard look. "Let him cool down and get some sleep. We'll come back after shift and talk to him." When he didn't move, she put her hands on his chest. "Sit." Give you time to cool down too, she thought

Sam looked at her and saw a determined and stubborn look in her eyes. He put up his hands in surrender and sat down. They sat in silence, only speaking once in awhile to ask if they wanted coffee.

##### Spike's room #####

As soon as the door closed behind Sam and Jules he rolled to his back with a painful grunt. Hot tears fell from his eyes. If he couldn't trust Sam and Jules, what about the rest of the team? Could he tell them? Would they still accept him? Could they keep it to themselves?

He didn't know if he could answer those questions. From what Sarge said, it sounded like they already knew. They came to see him though, even though they knew. Was it out of pity? He shook his head and pushed the button for the nurse.

"Hi Mr. Scarlotti." A smiling nurse came in and stood beside him. Her smile dropped when she saw that he was crying. "What's wrong? Are you having a lot of pain?"

He looked at her. Oh you don't even know, he thought. He nodded. "Meds please."

"What's the level?"

"7." He looked back at the ceiling.

"Ok." I'll check with the doc on right now and get you something." She patted his arm.

He nodded again. "No more visitors." Spike looked at her seriously.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." He wiped his eyes and returned to staring at the ceiling.


	23. Chapter 23

Sam was in the hall about to go in Spike's room when a nurse stopped him.

"He doesn't want any visitors." She put a hand on his arm.

Sam put his head down. "Really?"

The nurse nodded and kept her hand on his arm in case he decided to go in anyway.

He shook his head. Dammit Spike, he thought vehemently. "Deb Greene is supposed to come today. Let her in. It's important." He looked at her.

Her heart stopped when she looked in those blue eyes. Holy moly. She was tongue tied so she nodded in response.

"Thanks," Sam turned and went back to the waiting room. He walked up to Jules who had curled up in a chair and fallen asleep. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Jules."

Jules smiled and opened her eyes. When she saw the hurt in Sam's eyes she let her legs fall to the floor and sat up. "He awake?"

"I don't know. We gotta get to the barn." Sam stepped back so she could stand. He looked at this watch, 0445.

She gave him a confused look, stood and smoothed her clothes. "He kick you out?"

"Couldn't get in." Sam turned and walked out.

Jules stood there stunned for a minute and then followed him.

Greg, Wordy, Lew and Ed were standing by Winnie's desk talking when Sam and Jules walked in 10 minutes later.

"What's the word?" Lew asked. Uh oh, he thought when he saw Sam's face. This can't be good.

"Workout." Sam said raised his eyebrows and walked past them to the locker room.

Jules blew out a breath and shook her head. It's going to be a long day, she thought.

"Jules?" Greg asked.

"They had a blowout." She looked towards the locker room. "Spike kicked us out which was ok because the nurse was going to do it if they hadn't stopped yelling." She looked back at Greg. "What did you guys say to Spike? He acted like we told you guys what he said about his capture."

He furrowed his brows. That's what Spike was riled about? What did I say? "He told us that he'd been screwing up lately and I said 'given the circumstances it was understandable.'"

"I told him Sam had said they had a long conversation." Ed added, then understanding lighted his eyes. "He thought I meant that Sam had told us what he said about his capture. Damn."

"That has to be it." Jules said.

Without another word Ed walked into the locker room. Sam had his shirt off and was getting his workout clothes on. "I'm sorry Sam. It's my fault."

"What is?" Sam pulled on his t-shirt and looked at Ed.

"Spike being mad at you. Although it's mostly his fault." Ed shook his head and put up a hand."It's just a misunderstanding."

"Yeah well." Sam said angrily. He threw his clothes in his locker and slammed it shut.

"Talk to him after shift." Ed grabbed Sam's arm, stopping him.

"Can't. He told them no visitors." Sam pulled away and walked out.

Ed jogged after him. "Sam." Sam stopped and turned to him. "I need your head here today."

"I know." Sam looked at him, seriousness in his eyes. "I'm good." After workout, he thought.

"Alright people, let's workout." Ed walked towards the team who followed him to the workout room.

After their workout, in which Sam went very hard, they showered, changed and met in the briefing room.

Lew sat next to Sam. "You alright?" He said in a low voice.

Sam looked at him. "Good." He nodded.

Greg stood at the head of the table. "Lew, how's the shoulder?"

"A little sore but good." Lew rotated it. Q

"Good." He nodded. "But just in case, I'll need you in the truck today. We're down a man so I need everyone's head in the game." He looked at Sam.

"Guys." Sam put a hand out, palm up and let it rest on the table. "For the last time, I'm good."

"Ok. Sam." Greg put his hand up. "It's been a rough week, so let's get out there and try to make this a new start."

They headed out on their first hot call not long after.

#### hospital, Spike's room, 1000 hrs #####

Deb Greene steeled herself before she walked into her patient's room. She'd received a call from Sergeant Parker early this morning telling her about Spike and Sam's fight during the night. She had told him to have the team come to the hospital at 7pm, they were having their first group session today.

She walked into the room. Spike had the bed up so that he could be in a comfortable, reclined sitting position.

He saw her enter and anger flashed in his eyes. He looked back at the TV. "I told them no visitors."

"I know." She sat down in the chair next to him. "Why?"

Spike looked at her. "Because I can't trust anyone."

"No one? That seems kind of extreme. Not your parents?"

"Well, them." Spike shrugged, his anger cooled a bit.

"Ok. What about your team?"

"I don't know."

"What happened that you suddenly don't trust them Spike? You've been on the same team, working together, playing together for a couple years now." She tipped her head and caught his eye. "Must've been pretty serious."

Spike took a breath. He stayed silent, letting his thoughts run. "After all that time, after all we've been through together-" He stopped, squeezing his eyes shut.

When he didn't continue she prodded him. "What Spike?"

"I, um, told him what happened to me and he blabbed to the others." Spike's eyes burned. "How am I supposed to trust him when he does something like that?" He put a hand to his chest. "That was-"

"Private?" Deb offered.

"Yes. I don't know, what they'll- if they'll think-"

She waited.

"What if they don't believe me? What if they do?" He looked down at his hands.

"They're your friends, I know they'll believe you. Do you think it'll change the way they see you?"

"Yeah." He kept his eyes down but nodded. "Like I'm disgusting because I let her do those things to me. Or a wimp because I couldn't fight her off or get away. That I don't belong at the SRU anymore."

"Is that how you feel?"

The tears started. "Why didn't I get away? Why didn't I use a pressure point and disable her?"

"Did you try to get away?"

He nodded and told her about the incident with the bowl and then the back door. Once he started talking about it, it all just started pouring out. He started at the beginning and told her everything, even after the matches.

##### hospital waiting room, 1900 hrs #####

The team spent the day running two hot calls. Both of the calls had gone smoothly and the briefings had been fairly short. In between the two calls they'd patrolled. Since they had to gather at the hospital right after work they stopped at Timmy's for some supper.

"So I said, 'your retainer wouldn't be broken if you hadn't put your it in the dishwasher.'," Wordy laughed as the group reached the waiting room.

"Ha. What'd she say?" Lew asked.

"'But Daaaaad. You said I had to clean it!' I couldn't keep a straight face." Wordy shook his head.

"Softy." Ed grinned.

"Yeah, like you didn't let Clark get away with stuff when he made this face." Wordy pointed to his face and stuck his lip out, his eyes big and innocent.

Ed laughed. "True."

Deb Greene walked into the waiting room and observed the group. They seem ok, she thought. I see some worry and frustration, especially from Sam. Right. "Hi guys." She smiled at them. "If you could grab five chairs and follow me?" They did as she asked.

Spike could hear the commotion from the hall and got nervous. He and Deb had talked for nearly two hours. She told him that this would be uncomfortable, but it needed to happen.

There was a rift between him and the others and it needed to be dealt with. He watched as they all piled into his room, put all the chairs into a circle around his bed and sat. He looked down at his hands.

Oh shit

Jules sat next to Spike's bed, Wordy next, then Lew, Sam, Ed, Greg, and Deb on Spike's other side.

"So, Spike and I talked today." Deb started, looking at the others. "I understand there have been some," she looked at Spike who didn't acknowledge her, "misunderstandings."

They all nodded. "So what happened earlier today?" She asked, keeping herself centered so she could see everyone.

"Ed and I were here talking and Spike woke up." Greg looked at Spike who was still studying his hands. "I asked if he and Jules had made up and he said yes. He said that he'd been screwing up lately." After years of recounting every detail of a case, he couldn't just say, 'spike got pissed about something we said then got pissed at Sam too and kicked him out of the room'. He had trained himself to give details.

Spike listened without looking at them.

"I said that under the circumstances, it was understandable." Ed said. He looked at Spike. "Spike became distant and angry. I tried to find out what was wrong but he wouldn't tell us. He pushed us away."

"How did you feel about that?" Deb asked.

"Angry and sad." Ed answered, then looked beyond Deb to Spike. "I don't understand what happened."

'Greg? How did you feel?"

"The same. I think it was a misunderstanding though." He tipped his head down slightly and looked at Spike. "It's fixable."

Spike stole a look at Greg and saw understanding and acceptance. That was not the case when he looked at Sam. He was slouched in his chair, arms crossed, feet out in front of him crossed at the ankles and he was staring into the middle of the circle.

"I agree." Deb looked at Sam. "Sam? What happened when you started your 'shift' so to speak?

"Spike woke up and started yelling that I had betrayed him, that I had a big mouth and he wanted me out of the room. When Jules tried to talk to him he asked her to leave too." Sam answered angrily.

"It sounds like you're pretty angry about that." She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Yes. I felt like-. After he finally told me what happened that-"

"You had no right." Spike said coolly.

"To do what Spike?" Sam growled. "You didn't let me explain, just like you are now."

"Explain." Spike put out his hand, palm up.

"Ok. After you finally told me what happened to you, I thought you'd feel better. That you could start moving on." He closed his eyes and shook his head. His voice dropped, "but you were so angry with me."

"Any idea why he was angry?" Deb asked.

"He thinks I told the rest of the team what he shared with me." Sam looked at Spike with deep hurt in his eyes. "How could you think that? Why would you think I'm the kind of person that would do that?"

"Did you tell them?" Deb raised a brow.

Sam looked Spike in the eye and said, "no."

"Liar!" Spike ground out. "Why did Ed say, 'under the circumstances', like he knew what happened?"

Ed ran a hand over his head and shook it angrily.

"I can't believe you really think I told, or would tell anyone something so personal." Sam bent his legs, put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

"Ed?" Deb looked to Ed who had stood and was pacing. "What did Sam tell you?"

"First of all Spike, I am so pissed at you right now. Is this what you think of all of us? That you can't trust us? Actually, I want to know if you can trust me." Ed's blue eyes were so dark with anger they were nearly black.

"I don't know, can I?" Spike threw at him.

Ed ran his hand over his mouth. When he spoke, his voice was shaking and his eyes were misty. "Why. Why are you doing this?" He took a ragged breath. "Do you blame us for what happened? Is that why you're pushing us away?"

Deb kept quiet. Now we're getting to it, she thought.

"What?" Spike was shocked.

"I'm so sorry I didn't stay at the house with you after the accident. Sarge told us to stay together and I left you. I failed you. I left you and she abducted you." Ed sat in his chair and put a hand to his head. Sam and Greg each put his hand on Ed's back.

"How could you think that?" Spike furrowed his brows. "I wasn't paying attention to anything but what was happening outside. I should've heard her coming."

Jules was wiping her eyes and sniffing. "I should've stayed too Spike, I'm so sorry."

"No. Neither of you should feel bad." Spike shook his head. When Ed started to protest, he said, "nuh uh"

"Listen the three of you." Greg cut in. "The subject planned it all. She staged the jumper call, SHE broke the gas valve off at Wordy's, knowing that we'd circle the wagons and SHE put the bomb on both of our SUVs. Not just one, but both. SHE knew that when one of us was hurt the others would go running. SHE is the one to blame here. No one else. Do you understand?" He gave each of them a pointed look.

"Excellent point Greg. Put the blame where it belongs." Deb agreed. "So let's get back to the original question Ed. What did Sam tell you about his conversation with Spike?"

Ed looked Spike in the eye. "Nothing."


	24. Chapter 24

Spike looked out the window of his room. He could see the neighbor kids playing tag in the backyard. They ran and ran until they collapsed on top of each other, fighting for breath. He smiled. I hope I have kids someday, he thought. He turned from the window and at the overnight bag on his bed. He started pulling out his clothes and throwing them in the hamper.

He looked at the bed, his mind flashing to the one in the brick building. No, he thought. Go away. You can't be here. He could hear her throaty laugh. Silly boy, she whispered. I'll always be here. "No." He growled.

"Spike?" Ed stood in the doorway, watching Spike squeeze his eyes shut.

Spike took a breath. He looked up and met Ed's concerned gaze. "Ghosts."

Ed moved into the room and stood next to Spike. He put a hand on Spike's back and nodded. It'd been three days since their first group session, but he still felt shaky about his standings with Spike. That didn't mean he was giving up though. None of them were. He wouldn't let them.

"Thanks." Spike half-smiled. He picked up his shaving kit, moved past Ed and put it back in the hall bathroom. "So.." Spike re entered his bedroom looked at him expectantly.

"We were going to go grab a beer. Coming?" Ed tipped his head towards the outside.

Spike looked at the clock, 1600. Sam will be there, he thought. I don't know if I should be. "It's a little early." He pointed at the clock and looked at Ed, amused.

"Then we'll go to Timmy's or the park." Ed offered.

Their first group therapy session had been really tough. Even after Ed told Spike that Sam hadn't told them what Spike had shared, there was a lot of anger, especially since Spike wasn't convinced. When it got too heated, Deb had ended the session. They had walked away and hadn't resolved their issues which was an abnormality for Team One.

Ed, Greg, Lew and Wordy still went to see Spike after shift the rest of the week, but it was awkward at best. They tried to convince Sam and Jules to go, but both made excuses as to why they couldn't. Greg was very unhappy that his team was divided. It'd been his idea that after they brought Spike home they did something together.

"I don't know if I'm up for the park yet." Spike put a hand on his stomach. They'd removed his stitches yesterday, but he still had gauze over his grafts. He knew they'd want to play touch football or something that required running around. The thought made his stomach turn.

"Ok," Ed nodded. "Then just come downstairs." He smiled and backed up towards the door. He sniffed the air. "Mmm. Smells like Mama S is making one of her famous, fatten you up meals." Maria Scarlotti was always telling them that they looked too skinny and that they needed one of her home cooked meals. "Put some meat on those bones!" She'd say.

He sniffed and closed his eyes in ecstasy. Oh man, that does smell good he thought. Smells, familiar. He brushed it off since her cooking always made him feel at home. "Ok." He knew Ed was up to something, but followed him.

As they descended the stairs, Spike could see each person of the team come into view. Lew and Wordy were on the couch, Greg in a chair next to Wordy then Sam and Jules on the loveseat in front of the picture window. He stole a glance at Sam. He had his mask up but his body was tense. The distance between them felt like miles.

"There he is." Wordy stood and smiled. Once Spike reached the bottom of the stairs he gave him an easy hug. "How's it feeling?" He asked when he pulled back.

"Ok. Still painful." Spike gave Wordy a warm smile.

Lew stood and hugged Spike. "Glad to see you home."

"Thanks. I'm glad to be home." Spike nodded. He scooted past Wordy and Lew who had sat back on the couch and shook Greg's hand. "Boss." He moved back and sat next to Wordy. He glanced at Sam and Jules and nodded at them. They both nodded in return. Awkward as ass, he thought.

"So what do you want to do?" Greg asked.

Spike looked at them. Turn back time, he thought. Things were so good before all of this happened. He knew had his place on the team. They were a team, a family. During his second session with Deb, they had discussed how Spike felt about his team before this trauma and after. The differences were huge. They had a lot of work to do to forgive and rebuild. when he realized they were still waiting, he shrugged.

"Stay for supper!" Maria called from the kitchen.

They all smiled. "Do you need any help ma?" Spike called over his shoulder.

"Let me." Jules stood, made her way past Sam and Greg and headed into the kitchen. They could hear her say, "hey Mrs. S! What can I do?"

Spike smiled. That was Jules, he thought. Always willing to roll up her sleeve and pitch in.

"I'll have to pass. I promised Clark and Soph I'd have dinner with them as a pre-celebration of his recital." Ed said to Spike.

"Ok," Spike shrugged. "Tell Clark I said I good luck." Everyone added their well wishes.

"What is all this small talk?" Maria stuck her head in the living room through the swinging kitchen door. "You never small talk. How 'bout you say what you want to say?" She couldn't understand them, Mikey always had great things to say about his team. Now they were sitting around like strangers trying to find something to talk about.

Ed dropped his head and nodded. "Mamas always know." He smirked. He looked up at Spike, waiting.

Wordy raised an eyebrow. All of this tension had been very upsetting. He wished they would just talk or duke it out if that's what they needed to do. He finally broke the silence when no one said anything. "Please, guys."

He could understand why everyone was so upset. Spike had made some strong allegations and hadn't accepted the truth when he was given it.

Sam sat back against the love seat and looked at the ceiling. He couldn't say anything. He knew that it would become a blow up and he didn't want to do that to Spike's mom. She had enough to worry about now with the men in her life.

He couldn't help the tear that escaped his eye. Sam ran his finger under his nose, stood and walked out the front door. Wordy stood and followed him.

"Sam." Wordy nearly had to run to catch Sam. He reached him before Sam could climb in his car. "Sam. Stop."

Sam took a breath before he faced Wordy. "What? What do you want from me?" Sam seethed. The pain was clear in his eyes.

"I can't stand this." Wordy shook his head. He looked back at the house then at Sam. "You need to talk to him."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know if I can be his friend anymore. Teammate, fine. But friends may be out of the question. How can I when he thinks so little of me?"

Wordy was taken aback. This he was not expecting. He thought Spike and Sam would talk it out and be fine, if he could get them to talk.

"I have to go." Sam opened his door.

"Are you serious?" Wordy's eyebrows gathered by his nose. He grabbed the door frame.

Sam shrugged, then nodded sadly. "How can we go back? He doesn't trust me. He thinks I'm some terrible person that would betray him."

"Oh Sam." Wordy sighed.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Sam couldn't stand it. He had to get out of there. He sat in his car and pulled the door closed. He started the car and took off down the street, tears running down his face.

Wordy watched Sam pull out of his parking spot and speed off. He turned and stomped back into the house. He looked Spike in the eye, raised his arm and pointed outside. "Outside right. NOW." His face was beat red.

Spike looked at Wordy in confusion.

"Get up before I do it for you." Wordy growled.

Ed frowned and started to say something, but Greg put a hand on his arm and shook his head.

Spike rose and walked outside, anger marring his face.

Wordy followed Spike outside and closed the door behind him. He saw that Spike was getting mad and gave him a 'don't' look. "Let's go." Wordy started walking, while Spike looked after him. When Spike didn't follow, Wordy stopped and gave Spike a murderous look.

Spike looked back at the house and followed Wordy with a growl. Who does he think he is ordering me around, he thought angrily. He had to speed walk to catch up with Wordy and even then it wasn't easy.

They walked along the street in silence for several minutes before Wordy spoke. His voice was full of sadness. "What are you doing?" He looked at Spike. "You know I love you like a brother, but honestly I don't understand you lately."

"I know." Spike shook his head. He wasn't sure who he was anymore either.

"This is not my friend." Wordy said. "I want the old Spike back. The one who would NEVER treat his friends like you have."

"Get as you give." Spike said simply.

"That's the thing Spike, we've been giving as you put it. We tell you the truth and you still don't believe us. Why?" Wordy turned them into a small park and they sat on top of a picnic table.

"Because it doesn't match what people said." Spike said angrily. "I'm sick of talking about this." He stood and started back towards his house.

"Wait a minute. That's what you need to be doing Spike." He grabbed Spike's arm and pulled him to a stop. "You need to talk to Sam before you lose him completely. He's already got one foot out the door."

"Then I guess I'll push him out and shut the door." Spike said seriously and stalked back to the house. He doesn't want to be my friend anymore, he thought, then who needs him?

Wordy stared after Spike. What was going on with him, he thought. He's doing his best to push us all away. Why? He followed Spike back to the house.

When Spike reached the house, he went in, told the rest of the team and his mom that he was tired and went up to his room. Once he shut the door, he slid down it, pulled his knees up, put his head in his arms and sobbed. Now Sam is willing to abandon me after what I shared with him? The thought left a hole in his heart. He tried his best to fill it with tears.

Wordy followed shortly after Spike. He thanked Maria for the offer for supper but said he had to go. Jules, Lew, Greg and Ed did the same and followed Wordy outside.

Once the door closed behind them, Wordy said, "We have to fix this."

#### SRU HQ, Saturday, 0800 hrs ####

"Spike!" Winnie exclaimed when he walked into the SRU.

"Hey Winnie." He half-smiled.

"Feeling better?"

"Meh. So-so. Where's the team? They said to meet them here."

"I think they're showering from workout, but they told me to tell you to meet them in the dark training room." She pointed to the room down the hall that they used to train for situations where they would need night vision goggles.

"Ok. Thanks." He gave her a small smile. He headed down to the room and walked in. He saw some night vision goggles on a table to the left of the door and walked to it. He put on a pair of goggles and walked further in the room.

##### SRU HQ, locker room 0800 hrs #####

We're going to do some training in the dark room." Greg was dressed and waiting for the others to finish.

Sam finished buttoning up his shirt and closed his locker. "Cool." He said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

"As soon as you're dressed, head down." Greg tipped his head towards the exit of the locker room.

"Ok.' Sam shrugged and walked out of the locker room.

Ed waited until he was sure Sam was out of earshot and said, "this better work." He looked at Wordy.

"I hope so." Wordy answered. They finished getting dressed and waited at the door.

Lew stuck his head out just enough so he could look down the hall. Sam reached the door to the room and walked in. Lew signaled for them to move ahead. Jules had been waiting at the door of her locker room and followed when they moved. They made their way slowly and quietly down the hall. When they reached the door, Lew gave them the signal to stop. Ed moved up, grabbed the door, pulled it closed and locked it.

Sam turned when he heard the door swing shut and locked. "Hey!" He walked forward to where he knew the door was. He pounded his fists against the door. "Hey! This isn't funny dammit."

"Work it out." Greg called through the door. "Until then you're both stuck in there."

"Both?" Sam got a sinking feeling. Oh shit. Oh they are going to be sorry.


	25. Chapter 25

Spike kept quiet. He had turned when he heard someone enter the room and then the door close and lock. He could see perfectly through the goggles who was in the room with him. "Bastards." Spike whispered. He moved to the far corner of the room and sat as quietly as possible.

Sam took a breath. He waited for his eyes adjust to the complete dark before he made his way to the table he knew was to the left. He bumped the table and felt around until he found the goggles. He put them on and searched the room. He found Spike sitting in the far corner.

Lew, Ed, Greg, Wordy and Jules stood in the observation room.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Jules asked.

Wordy shook his head. "Hours."

For the first hour, Sam and Spike didn't speak to each other. They sat in opposite corners of the room. Lost in their own thoughts.

Sam was the first to speak. "Dammit Spike." He couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Damn me?" Spike looked up and towards where he knew Sam was.

"Why?" Was all Sam could choke out.

Spike hung his head. "Why what?"

"Why is it so hard to believe I wouldn't betray you?" Sam put a hand to his head, his elbow on his knee. "What in our history together makes you think I would do something like that?"

"So why did you?" Spike growled.

Sam stood and walked to the middle of the room. "I DIDN'T!" He waved dismissively at Spike. "I don't know why I'm bothering." He walked to the door and started pounding on it with his fist. "Time's up! Let me out."

Wordy pushed the intercom button. "Nope."

Sam pounded his fist against the door once in frustration. He stayed at the door, his palms flat on it. "How long have we known each other?"

"Almost two years." Spike put his head back against the wall and looked up.

"How many times have we hung out, just the two of us?"

"I don't know Sam. A hundred?"

"How many times have you told me something personal?"

"Same." Spike looked at Sam. Where is he going with this?

"How many times I have I?"

"I'm not in the mood for 20 questions."

"A lot. But I never told you about the time I was captured by terrorists when I was in JTF2."

Spike frowned. "No. Guess we weren't close enough."

"I was out on a mission. Middle of the day in the scorching desert staring through my scope. I waited there for hours. I had my camo on so that added to the heat. I was supposed to cover my unit's retreat." He stopped and took a breath. He couldn't get into more details about the mission, but what he had to say next was not going to be easy.

"Finally, after four hours one of my teammates showed up. I looked back at him when he approached and he was laughing. I didn't understand why until someone clocked me in the head. There was a couple of them. They beat me pretty bad. Broke a couple ribs, messed up my face pretty badly, broke four of my toes. As they dragged me off I heard my teammate say, 'not so tough without the general around are you?'

Do you get that? Someone from my team did that to me." Sam hesitated to say more, but he knew he had to.

Spike didn't know what to say. How could they do that to him?

"Anyway," Sam blew out a breath. "They dragged me into this cave, shackled me to the wall and let me lie there by myself for awhile. I guess I fell asleep or passed out, because the next thing I know I have a cattle prod in my side. They stripped me naked and tied me so my arms and legs were outstretched. They started sticking needles into my skin and no where you want to know about."

Spike put his head down. No, he thought. I don't want to know. His mind went back to the brick building. He remembered that position. The things the woman did.

"Every morning they would wake me up with waterboarding. More needles and beatings. It went on for," he paused, "it felt like forever. I started to think I would die there." He looked at Spike. "Some part of me wanted to."

Spike started to cry softly.

In the observation room, Jules had a hand over her mouth and was crying silently. Every member of the team had tears in their eyes.

"I asked the same questions Spike. Why? Why didn't I get away? Why didn't I fight? Why was this happening to me? I had no control over the situation and I hated that. After I was finally rescued, I was.. Fine. Totally Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and very Emotional. That's where that started.

My buddies Matt, Patch, Blaze and Winds helped me get through it though. They wouldn't let me give up. They helped me see the beauty of life. I was," he let out an incredulous laugh, "so angry." He stood, walked to where Spike was sitting, sat down next to him and took his goggles off. "Just like you." He put a hand on Spike's shaking back.

"I took it out on my friends but they never left me." Sam wiped the tears from his eyes. "They were too stubborn." He scoffed.

"Yeah," Spike sniffed, "I know some people like that."

Smiles from the observation room.

Sam smiled. "After they found me, I found out the guy that had been there when I was taken had been transferred. His report said that I'd wandered off on my own and they couldn't find me. He basically said I went AWOL and that's how I got captured. That's a big no no in the military. Of course I gave my side of the story but it was his word against mine.

So you have to know that I know what it's like. I was betrayed in a big way. I know how that feels. And I would never ever do that to you Spike." He gave Spike a sincere look.

"I'm, I'm so sorry." Spike shook his head. "I shouldn't have doubted you."

"It hurt a lot that you would think I could ever be like that-" He paused and searched the ceiling for strength. Help me Matt, he thought. He always looked to his fallen JTF2 buddy when he needed extra help. He took a breath and blew it out. "I understand what you're going through. I know It's going to take time. And patience. On both sides." Sam looked in Spike's eyes meaningfully.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm really sorry." Spike hung his head in shame. "After what she- the things she did- I kept thinking that you would be, I- ashamed I guess." He searched for the right words.

"Ashamed?" Sam frowned at him. How could I be ashamed of him, he thought. "Of what? Of you?"

"Yeah." Spike sniffed and put his head back against the wall. "That you'd think I was stupid and weak for getting taken and then not being able to get away."

"Why didn't I?"

"You were incapacitated. They beat the crap out of you."

"How did she get you out of the house? Did she sing a siren song and you followed her?" Sam tapped into Spike's love of Greek mythology, part of his history.

"No. She drugged me."

"Ok. Once you woke up?"

"She had me cuffed to a bed bolted to the floor with steel brackets."

"Ok. So you reconed the room. What was in there?"

Spike closed his eyes. He saw the room in his mind. She's in the corner. No, just the room. She disappeared. "No windows, no other furniture, just a sheet on the bed and one nasty looking blanket."

"What about the rest of the inside?"

"Very bare. A couch and TV in the middle, table, two chairs and a heavy chain with a reinforced cuff."

"Ok. So she kept you incapacitated."

"Yes."

"So when were you supposed to escape? How?"

Spike opened his eyes and looked at Sam. "I couldn't. I had to wait for you to come get me."

"Yes. And we did." Sam nodded.

"Yes." Spike's face broke and he put his hands to cover it.

Sam put an arm around Spike and pulled him to him. "Who's to blame?"

"She is. God I hate her so much. I know she's gone, but I wish she were here so I could kill her myself."

"I know it feels that way, believe me, I wish I could kick her ass for you."

Spike laughed. "But she's gone. She can't come back and she can't hurt you anymore."

"She hangs around." Spike swallowed hard. He hadn't gotten a full nights sleep since it happened.

"The things that happened-" he stopped, looked at Spike and then at the far side of the room at the two way mirror. "They haunt you. I get it, believe me."

"How do you deal?"

Sam gave him a half-smile. "You. Wordy. Ed. Jules. The Boss. Lew. I have an extended family I never thought I'd have when I started here. You guys pick me up when I fall. You care for me, even when I do or say something stupid." He gave him a pointed look.

"I hope we can have that again." Spike looked at Sam with hope in his eyes, for the first time in a week.

"It didn't disappear Spike. I don't hate you." He shook his head. "I don't know if I could. This is what family does. Sometimes we hurt each other, whether we mean to or not, we forgive and move forward. It may take a little bit for the hurt to go away, but I'm not going to hold it against you. Or hold it over your head." He wiped his hands. "It's done."

"Really?"

"Yes you knucklehead." Sam smiled at him. "I know you may not think so now, but they can handle whatever you want to tell them. When you're ready."

Spike nodded. He wasn't so sure he wanted to he wanted to tell them so soon.

The door to the dark room opened and Team One moved into the room.

Sam stood and helped Spike stand. It was still hard for Spike to move around. His doctor told him it'd take awhile for his skin to bond with the new skin and heal.

"Hey guys." Spike smiled shyly. "Jules." He turned to her. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have kicked you out."

She walked to him and gave him an easy hug, remembering his wounds. "You can't get rid of me that easy." She whispered in his ear. Spike closed his eyes and held on. She pulled back from him and smiled before letting go.

Ed stepped forward next and hugged him. "Sorry man," Spike said when Ed hugged him. Ed just nodded.

They each took turns hugging Spike and each time he apologized.

Before Greg hugged Spike he said, "Michelangelo 'Spike' Scarlotti."

Spike stiffened at the use of his full first name. He hoped that would fade with time too. "Yeah Boss."

"You are essential to this team. Without you, we start to fall apart."

Spike stole a glance at the others who nodded.

"So whenever or whatever you need, ask. You want to know what we're thinking, ask. We will be with you, pick you up when you fall and hold you up when you need it. This family sticks together." Greg's eyes were filled with brotherly love. "Got it?"

"Copy that." Spike grinned, the smile reaching all the way to his eyes.

"Good." Greg smiled and hugged Spike. "Let's get out of here." Greg tipped his head towards the door.

Sam put an arm around Spike's shoulders and the walked out together, the team close behind.

Spike suddenly remembered and turned back to Ed. "How was the recital?"

"Really good." Ed smiled, "his instructor said Clark is very talented for his age."

"He could be the next Beethoven." Jules said.

"Or Chopin." Spike offered.

"What?" Sam looked at Spike in shock.

"What do you know about Chopin?" Lew laughed.

"More than you." Spike looked at him incredulously as they walked past the desk.

Winnie smiled as they walked by. This was the Team One she knew. Not the ones that had been skulking around here this week. She knew it was hard for them to have a teammate down. It'd been rough for her this week too. No one liked a tense team. The calls they went on had been extra tough. More than once Ed and Greg had apologized for their attitudes on the radio with her. She hoped they could all put this behind them now and come back stronger.


	26. Chapter 26

When Spike went to his next therapy session the following Tuesday, he had a lot to tell Deb. He explained what the team did to force he and Sam to talk. She was surprised that they had to resort to an extreme measure to get he and Sam to talk, but was glad that it worked.

He still felt pretty guilty about how he had treated everyone, but especially Sam. They had talked extensively about that for the hour. Deb reinforced the idea that Sam and the others were in his corner and wouldn't hold grudges. Spike still felt uneasy about seeing his friends, but told her he would try relaxing and seeing how things go.

When he walked out of her office, he felt better. He went to see his dad at the hospital which actually went well. They had a good conversation about the future of their favorite hockey team, the Maple Leafs. He was extra happy when he left the hospital, glad that things seemed to be going well.

He walked out of the hospital and instead of going to his car, he decided to go for a walk. He needed to start working out again and this was the first step. He couldn't jog yet, he had discovered that earlier in the day. He had tried to run on his treadmill, but the jostling made his grafts hurt.

He walked to the sidewalk and followed it around the corner of the hospital by a back entrance. An upset young woman was walking out carrying a bag that said Personal Property on it. Spike saw her out of the corner of his eye but kept walking.

"Hey." The woman said. She started walking fast towards Spike. "Hey. You're officer Scarlotti of the SRU right?" She walked on the small stretch of grass between the parking lot and the sidewalk.

"Yes." Spike nodded, wary. The woman looked vaguely familiar.

"I'm Karen Wassler. Um, I don't know how to say this, but Angelica Hause was my sister."

"Angelica?" Spike's memory kicked into gear and he took a step back. Oh, no way, he thought. Angelica Hause. Now it made sense. He had seen her at the Team Five tryouts, but she was so quiet. All of the others were outgoing, asking questions and talking with the others. Angelica had done fairly well in the testing, but she was too introverted and distant with everyone. The team lead, Josh felt she wouldn't be able to relate to the public.

"Yes." Karen could see he was trying to process the information and waited.

"Sh- she was at the bank." His eyes went wide. He looked at the woman again. Same brown hair, blue eyes and prominent chin. Her. Oh fuck.

"Yes. I-" She looked down wishing she hadn't approached him. She knew this would be difficult for them both. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what happened. She- she was a great sister." She nervously pushed her hair behind her ears. "I should've seen. She was so devastated after she wasn't chosen for the team. I told her not to give up. She was so angry." She looked up and saw her pain mirrored in his face. Dammit.

"I'm not trying to explain away what she did. I, uh only know what they told me, but she kept a journal about her plans." When his eyes started to tear, she added, "I burned it. Along with a lot of things. I just, I saw you and I wanted to say sorry. I know it's not enough, but I hope it helps."

Spike wasn't sure what to say. "Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry for your loss."

She gave him a small nod, turned and walked to her car.

He could see that she was trying to hold back the tears, he was not able to. He started walking back to his car and grabbed his phone. He dialed the number he knew by heart.

"Hello?"

"Sam." Spike choked out. "Um. Are you on a call right now?"

"Coming to you. Where are you?"

"Hospital parking lot out front. Meet me in the park across the street."

"Copy."

Spike walked to the park and sat on the top of the picnic table with his feet on the bench. He put his hands on his knees and his fingers through his hair, his palms on his forehead.

That is the position Sam found him in five minutes later. He pulled into the park, lights flashing and driving like a bat out of hell. He screeched to a stop and jumped out.

"Spike! What happened?" Sam stopped in front of Spike, worry clouding his eyes. Wordy stepped out of the passengers seat and ran over. They were both in full SRU gear. They pulled their earpieces out of their ears and turned off their headsets.

"Angelica." He didn't move.

Sam and Wordy exchanged a look.

"Angelica who?" Wordy sat next to Spike, a hand on his back.

"Angelica Hause."

"The quiet girl that tried out for Team Five?" Sam recognized the name. Way too quiet and reserved to be SRU, he remembered.

Spike shook his head. "Her." Fresh tears started to fall. "I just met her sister."

"Here at the hospital?" Sam was confused. Why was Spike so upset about meeting that woman's sister? What did he mean by 'her'?

"Are you ok?" Wordy had already made the connection. There was only one they'd referred to as 'her'.

Spike shook his head.

Sam made the connection. "Oh my god. Her." He looked at Wordy and exchanged an 'oh shit' look. He sat on the other side of Spike and waited.

They sat in silence for several minutes.

"Spike?" Wordy said softly. "Talk to us."

"I've been thinking of her as a monster. No doubt she was. Her sister. I, it made her human." Spike shook his head. "I wanted her to stay a monster."

Wordy nodded. "It was a little easier that way."

"No family. Nothing but what she was there."

"What did the sister say?" Sam asked.

"She was a great sister. But she was devastated when she didn't make Team Five. I forgot. When I was, there, she told me about that. We ignored her that day. Walked right past her. It set her off." Spike looked at Wordy, pain in his eyes.

"She took it too far. I can understand being upset, but she made it personal Spike. She is responsible for her actions." Wordy patted his back.

"And us for ours."

"Ok. Yes. We were wrong to ignore her. I'm sorry for that, but that doesn't excuse what she did." Sam looked at Spike with sincerity.

"No." Spike shook his head. "Nothing will." He looked at Wordy. "There's more."

Wordy looked at him expectantly.

"Karen, the sister, said that," he paused. He hadn't used her name before. That would make her more human and he still couldn't bring himself to think of her that way. "Her, she had kept a journal about her plans."

Sam noticed the pause. He couldn't blame Spike for not wanting to use her name. It broke into the healing he was trying to do. "Shit."

"Yeah. She said she burned it, but I can't live without knowing for sure. To- to have it on paper, for anyone to read.."

"We'll take care of it. Don't worry." Sam gave him a reassuring smile.

"Thanks." Spike actually felt relief. It had helped to talk about it instead of bottling it up like had before. He wondered now why he'd ever doubted his team, his family. They came running as soon as they knew he needed them. He put an arm on each of their shoulders and pulled them to him. Their vests and gear made it difficult, but the intent was understood.

Sam and Wordy both smiled. Just then, a black SUV pulled up and squawked their siren. Wordy and Sam turned on their radios and put their earpieces back in.

"Everything ok?" Greg asked nervously. He was glad they'd only been on patrol when Spike called. He knew Sam would've had a hard time not going to Spike when he was needed.

Sam looked at Spike. "You ok?" When Spike nodded, Sam hit his transmit button and said, "we're good."

"Good." Greg breathed a sigh of relief. "Tell Spike we're glad he's ok, but unfortunately we have to get back to work."

"Copy." Wordy and Sam answered together. They relayed the Boss' message.

"Going home?" Wordy asked, tipping his head.

"I think I'm going to take a walk first." Spike suddenly wanted to do something physical. He knew it wasn't possible, but he could try to outrun the ghosts for awhile.

"Ok. You mind some company later? The game's on tonight. Blue Jays at Yankees." Wordy asked.

"It's going to be a bloodbath." Spike smiled. "Definitely. Besides, Ma's been asking me to have you guys back. We've been eating leftovers for days."

"Oh that won't be a problem." Sam rubbed his stomach.

"Alright. See you later." Wordy hit his arm lightly with a fist and turned towards the truck.

"Sure you're good?" Sam searched Spike's face.

"Yeah. Thanks." Spike smiled and slapped Sam's shoulder. It was like they'd picked up where they'd been before his abduction. Sam hadn't even hesitated when he called. It was good to have his brothers and sister back.

Later that night they all gathered at Spike's, watched the game and made short work of the leftovers.

Wordy pulled Spike to the side during one of the commercial breaks. "We went to the sisters. She took us to Her house and let us search the place. It's all gone. Nothing left but ashes. Done."

"Thank you so much for doing that. I- I couldn't have." Spike shook his head.

"I know. It's all good."

"Done." Spike nodded. He pulled Wordy into a hug and slapped his back in brotherly love.

They went back to the game and hung out for the rest of the night. It was a bloodbath as predicted, just not for their Blue Jays.

For the next week, Spike went to therapy and healed. Although his physical scars were finally fading, his emotional ones were taking longer.

Lew showed up at his house early the first few days after the game and they went for short jogs. Spike didn't tell Lew it was painful to do. They started slow at first, but Spike was able to get back into the groove pretty quickly. By Saturday he had joined the team in the gym. He wasn't going as hard and could only do an hour before he got too sore to keep going.

He hadn't mentioned it to the Boss, but he and Lew were going to do his requals Tuesday. He'd gotten the all clear from his doctor Friday to return to work. He wanted to do it Monday but the person wasn't available.

Tuesday morning, Spike was nervous but ready. With Lew by his side, he knew he'd be good.

Wednesday morning, Lew walked into the station to find the team gathered at Winnie's desk, talking. "Hey guys." He smiled. "What's the word?'

"Just talking about that Jays no-hitter last night." Wordy smiled.

"Oh man, were the Sox even there?" Lew laughed.

"It was killer." Ed smiled.

"They were crying on the bench!" Jules scoffed.

Greg grinned as he watched his team talking. "Alright sports fans," he cut into their conversation. "Let's get our workout in and get out there. We got a long day ahead. Three warrants to run."

They walked down to the locker rooms. Jules split off to hers. After workout, everyone showered, changed and met in the briefing room.

Lew walked in first, met eyes with Spike and grinned knowingly. He sat at the table, his poker face on.

Jules entered next. She saw Spike out of her eye and stopped. "Spike!" She looked him up and down. He was back in the cool pants.

"Hey Jules." He smiled and hugged her.

She sat at the table opposite Lew and waited.

Wordy and Sam arrived next.

"Spike! Glad to have you back brother." Sam beamed when he saw Spike back in uniform. He hugged him and stepped aside to let Wordy hug him. They were standing around when Greg and Ed walked in.

Ed gave Spike a serious look. "You missed workout Scarlotti. Don't let it happen again."

"Copy that." Spike mirrored his serious face. He broke it and hugged Ed solidly.

Greg put a hand on Spike's shoulder and smiled warmly. "When did you requal?"

"Yesterday. Lew and I ran it together."

"So?" Ed looked at him.

"Fit as a fiddle and still faster than Lew." Spike put a hand on his stomach, then smirked at Lew.

Lew smiled back, glad the old Spike was back.

"Oh." Greg looked at Lew. "Do I hear a rematch?"

"Oh yeah." Lew tipped his head.

"Date and time." Spike pointed at him.

"Later." Greg waved a hand at them. "Like I said we have three warrants to try to do today, then whatever comes in, so let's get to it. "

"Copy that."

Greg gave Sam a pointed look and Sam nodded imperceptibly. Lew had given him a heads up.

They jumped into the SUVs. Sam was driving one with Wordy riding shotgun and Spike in the back. Greg was driving the other SUV with Ed in the passenger seat, Jules and Lew in the back.

They took a road that lead out of the city. Spike watched the scenery change from city to forest and started to get nervous. "Where is this place?"

"Not far." Sam looked in the mirror at him.

When they turned onto a small dirt road that led into the woods, Spike felt the panic rise in his throat. "Guys." No answer. Wordy and Sam exchanged a look. He looked out the window and watched the small brick building come into view. He pulled on the door handle. "No. Let me out."

"Spike." Lew said into his headset. He could hear the panic in his friend's voice. "It's ok."

"No. It's really not." Spike pulled on the door and grunted in frustration. He looked up. They were in front of the building, pulling in next to a construction vehicle. He looked out the opposite window and saw that it was a huge bulldozer, a man was sitting in it, waiting.

Sam pulled to a stop and turned to Spike. He pushed the lock release and said, "trust us. Come on." Sam and Wordy climbed out.

They all gathered in front of Greg's SUV. They could see how uncomfortable Spike was and his need to run as far as he could from this place.

"Spike. We know that this building holds a lot of horrible memories for you." Greg began.

"We know you don't want to be here, and we don't blame you." Ed said, not able to keep the emotion from his voice.

"But we think that it's time to let the memories be just that and get rid of the reminder." Lew tipped his head down and caught Spike's eye.

"So we got you a," Jules looked at the bulldozer, "big gift."

"Something to help you try to put this behind you." Wordy looked at the bulldozer and back at Spike.

"Tear it down." Sam stepped towards him and handed Spike a key.

Spike looked down at the key and back at them. He sniffed. He walked to the bulldozer, nodded to the operator and climbed into the seat next to him. After some instruction, he started up the bulldozer and moved it towards the building.

He put the bucket up and moved it about two feet from the front wall. He let the anger fill him nearly to the brim and shoved the dozer into gear. It slammed into the wall and pushed it inward. He backed it up and did it again, this time pushing the wall to the ground.

Spike could see inside. The walls to his room, the table and chairs, the chain and the toilet. He lifted the bucket up so it was touching the roof. He lifted it up and then released it, making it crash down on the inside. Wood splintered when it hit the concrete floor of the inside. Broken porcelain slid across the floor.

The dozer engine revved up as Spike moved it to the wall by the room he was in. He pushed the wall and knocked it to the inside. The guy next to him could see Spike was in tears and said he would take it from there. Spike stepped off the bulldozer. He walked to his friends, wiping his eyes.

Sam was the first to embrace him and whisper words of encouragement. Lew stepped in next and held Spike while he sobbed. The others didn't wait for Lew to break his hug with Spike. They gathered in a group and shared the weight of Spike's grief.

When Spike finally came up for air, he realized everyone had joined in the hug. He let a small smile form on his lips. He had felt their strength while Lew held him, but had thought it was just Lew. He didn't have the words to tell them what this meant to him.

He broke from the hug, stepped away and looked back at the demolished building. He could see her there, but she was fading. He was relieved that he couldn't see or hear her clearly anymore. It would take more time, he was sure, but now he could see past it. Past her. And it looked beautiful. He turned back to them and smiled.

"Thank you." Spike closed his eyes and opened them again. They hadn't broken apart, but stood in a line, arms over shoulders. Like he always knew they would be.

Just then the alarm sounded through their headsets and they heard Winnie say, "team one! Hot call!"

Spike nodded to the SUVs and said, "what do you say we get to work?"

Six people smiled and answered, "copy that!"

##### AN: Thank you so much for reading. I hoped you enjoyed Mine. I want to give a big shout out to Missblueeyes61 for being gracious enough to let me borrow her OCs Blaze, Patch and Winds. I also borrowed her explanation of Sam's background from JTF2 and the torture he suffered at the hands of terrorists. I read it in her awesome stories (go check them out!), felt like they made perfect sense and accept them as truth. Thanks Miss! While I'm glad the story is over, it also makes me a little sad. It also makes me want to write more so stay tuned! #####


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